How many prostitutes are there in the world today?
The Fondation Scelles has just released a report on prostitution titled "Report on Sexual Exploitation" this week. Fondation Scelles (or Scelles Foundation in English) campaigns against prostitution and periodically submits its reports and evaluations to the United Nations. The report claims that prostitution is synonymous with sexual exploitation, human trafficking, dangerous organised crime,generating huge profits for those who use and abuse women and girls. It is "dominated by an unparalleled violence, physical, sexual, psychological, social ..." and is nothing less than a "violation of the integrity of human beings and the exploitation of a scandalous state of our moral treatise".
The report answers those who defend the right to prostitute themselves as being part of their freedom as human beings to do what they want with their own bodies, claiming that this position hides a darker and deeper reality, namely "the oppression of women, the trafficking of human beings", and "sexual abuse, insecurity, drugs, social exclusion". It has to do more with the destruction of a human being than with the openness and freedom of a person to do what (s)he wants.
The report suggests that the glamourisation of prostitution is one of the main dangers, luring women and girls into what they imagine to be a life of luxury, apart attracting punters. The full report will be released towards the beginning of February.
Here are some figures that might interest you:-
1. 40 and 42 million people are involved in prostitution in the world
2. 80% of prostitutes are women.
3. Three-quarters are between the age of 13 and 25.
4. Nine out of ten depend on a pimp.
5. In Western Europe, 1 to 2 million people are involved in prostitution, mostly migrants and "victims of human trafficking."
The Fondation Scelles, a recognised charity since 1994, was founded in 1993 by Jean and Jeanne Scelles who gave their inheritance to the NGO. As a French Resistance Fighter, Jean Scelles was imprisoned in Algiers in 1941, during which time he met a fellow prisoner who made a living by trafficking women for prostitution.
He was astonished to hear how the prisoner was treating the prositutes with violence. The experience had a lasting impression on Jean and after he narrowly escaped, he, together with his wife, devoted their life to fight for human dignity through public awareness campaigns, government lobbying, and prosecution of traffickers. Over the years the Foundation has gained strength with the help of lawyers and action teams .
WEB SITE FOR FONDATION SCELLES (In French)