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France Launches Anti-Prostitution Campaign At the Euro Soccer Championship

Officials hope the campaign will raise awareness around human trafficking and France's new anti-prostitution law, which forbids clients paying for sex.
Screenshot del video creado por Zeromacho para Euro 2016

The Euro 2016 soccer tournament kicks off Friday as host France takes on Romania at Paris' Stade de France stadium, and fans in the capital will be treated to an unusual sight before the match: A video against prostitution. That's because officials in the French capital have launched a campaign to raise public awareness around the issue of sex tourism during major sporting events.

The organization Zeromacho — a group that describes itself as "men against prostitution and for equality" — has contributed a video spot to the campaign, which will be broadcast before every match on the giant screen at the Paris "fan zone," an area dedicated to the championship where people can watch the matches without going to stadiums. In the video, a visibly inebriated man exits a brothel only to be pelted with soccer balls. The video ends with the message: "Men say NO to prostitution."

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Sex worker advocacy group Le Mouvement du Nid has also created three posters that focus on the "causes and consequences of prostitution." The posters depict three sex workers under the caption "The price of a trick is not what you think it is." 1,200 posters and 120,000 postcards with messages in French and in English will be placed at various sites in Paris.

— Helene Bidard (@Helenebidard)June 9, 2016

"The primary objective is to raise awareness about the realities of prostitution to a wider audience," said Hélène Bidard, the capital's deputy mayor in charge of gender equality, the fight against discrimination and human rights. "90 percent of prostitutes are foreign nationals. They are often the victims of trafficking networks and pimps. The clients should know [the reality] behind these people's lives."

As well as showing that prostitution is "an archaic practice," Bidard said that the campaign also aims "to publicize the 2016 legislation and to hold clients responsible." France's recently approved a new anti-prostitution law, which goes after johns, not sex workers. Men who are caught paying for sex will now have to pay a 1,500-euro fine ($1,690).

The theory that major sporting events fuel prostitution is not a new one. "The Euro is a time when there are a lot people around who want to party, including tourists. We want to make sure the party is free of sexism and sexual violence," said Bidard, adding that the city works on those issues year-round.

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On April 21, France's High Council for Gender Equality, or HCE, released a statement urging officials to introduce measures "to prevent wide-scale prostitution" during the Euro 2016.

"Previous major sporting events have shown that a few [supporters] are regular or occasional clients for prostitution and that other, younger [supporters] get initiated during these events, when partying justifies all excesses," said the Council. "The prostitution networks prepare well in advance for these sports events, which allow them to turn over huge profits and fuel global human trafficking (which involves mostly women from poor countries.)"

But figures proving a link between prostitution and sports tourism are not readily available. In an article published in May on VICE Sports, reporter Adrien Franque reported that the theory reached a climax during the 2006 World Cup, which was hosted by Germany — a country that had legalized prostitution four years earlier.

But according to a New York Times article investigating the alleged "spike in the sex trade" associated with major sports events, workers at the Artemis Sauna Club in Berlin did not note any business increase during the World Cup.

Four years later, during the World Cup in South Africa, news outlets rushed to report a similar phenomenon, with some saying that 40,000 "sex slaves" would flock to the country to cater to the increased demand for sex workers. But according to a study by the UN, there was "no significant increase to the number of clients per prostitute during the World Cup."

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Speaking to VICE Sports, Morgane Merteuil, a spokesperson for the Strass sex workers' union, described the spike as a myth. "Repeat a lie and it will become true," she said. According to Merteuil, large sports events are more likely to lead to increased "repression against prostitutes," and violence against sex workers.

The HCE does recognize that there is no "scientific" way to measure the phenomenon. Speaking to TV5 Monde, HCE secretary general Romain Sabathier said that reports of increased activity are based on information relayed by the press, advocacy groups and official institutions.

In its statement, the HCE urged organizers to "prevent unacceptable abuses such as the ones reported during major sporting or popular events (like the World Cup, Oktoberfest in Munich, the Stockholm rock festival, etc)."

Sociologist Nicolas Hourcade told VICE Sports that, rather than singling out soccer, HCE's statement was directed at any event drawing a large crowd.

Another group in France is also using the Euro 2016 to raise awareness around the issue of domestic violence. Called "Je ne supporte pas les bleus" or "I do not support the blues" — a play on "les bleus," which is French for "bruises" and also the name of the French national soccer team — the campaign reminds soccer fans that "ten women will die as a result of domestic violence during the Euro 2016."

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This article originally appeared in VICE News' French edition.