indicate children, primarily from Romania,West Africa, and North Africa, are victims of sex trafficking in France.The Government of France estimates the majority of the 20,000 people in France’s commercial sex trade, about 90 percent of whom are foreign, are likely trafficking victims. Source countries include Romania, Nigeria, China, Brazil, and Bulgaria. Online-advertised prostitution organized by Russians and Bulgarians has increased along with classified ads posted by organized networks controlled by Romanians, Bulgarians, Nigerians, and Brazilians; trafficking victims are likely involved in activities described in these ads. Women and children from Suriname are victims of sex trafficking in French Guyana. Roma and unaccompanied minors in France are vulnerable to forced begging and forced theft. Women and children are subjected to domestic servitude, mostly in cases in which families exploit relatives brought from Africa to work in their households.Trafficking networks have expanded to operate in large towns outside of Paris, including Lille and Nice. In 2014, the French government launched an investigation into allegations that approximately 14 French soldiers stationed in the Central African Republic forced boy refugees to perform sex acts for money and food.
The Government of France fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government adopted a national anti-trafficking action plan for 2014-2016, which outlines prosecution, protection, and prevention activities and a fund to protect and assist trafficking victims.The government significantly increased the number of convictions obtained under the trafficking statute 225-4-2. Robust cooperation with law enforcement in EU and source countries continued, and its success was demonstrated by the prosecution of many members of sex trafficking and forced begging networks.The government continued to protect and provide assistance to a large number of victims and partner with destination countries to address child sex tourism by French nationals. However, the government’s efforts to combat labor trafficking were weaker than those undertaken for sex trafficking, and the implementation of victim protection policies remained inconsistent among regions and municipalities.

RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR  FRANCE:
Implement the national action plan and establish a national rapporteur as stated in the plan; amplify training on and enforcement of labor trafficking laws; strengthen victim protection for child victims of forced begging and theft; improve victims’ access to restitution; continue to increase investigations, prosecutions, and convictions under the trafficking statute, ensuring convicted offenders are sentenced to jail terms; standardize residence permit issuance policies and consider waiving permit fees for trafficking victims; screen women and children arrested for soliciting or theft for trafficking indicators; provide care for all victims regardless of cooperation with law enforcement; and continue to enhance the collection of law enforcement and victim assistance data.

PROSECUTION
The government improved anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. France prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons through Article 225-4 of its penal code, which prescribes maximum penalties of between seven years’ and life imprisonment for trafficking offenses. These penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious offenses, such as rape. In 2014, French authorities conducted 204 criminal investigations for sex trafficking, of which 106 involved aggravated pimping including 17 children. In 2013, the most recent year for which data is available for convictions, French authorities obtained convictions for 127 offenders under Article 225-4-2, a significant increase compared to 17 in 2012.The government also obtained convictions for 23 offenders for the prostitution of children in 2013, compared with 19 in 2012. In addition, the government obtained convictions of eight offenders for forced begging, compared with 19 in 2012. Some trafficking cases may be reflected in the 719 convictions under the aggravated anti-pimping statute; a majority of the original arrests in those cases were for trafficking-specific offenses. The government improved data collection efforts and provided a more detailed disaggregation by type of trafficking, which provided a more nuanced understanding of victims, perpetrators, and the government’s efforts to combat trafficking.
Traffickers were sentenced to multiple years of imprisonment. In May 2014, a Paris correctional tribunal sentenced three members of the “Hamidovic network” to between four to seven years’ imprisonment for exploiting and forcing children to steal in the Paris metro system. The most stringent penalty, seven years’ imprisonment and a 100,000 Euro ($122,000) fine, was issued in absentia for a fourth member and leader of the network who was at large at the end of the reporting period. In July 2014, the Marseille Correctional Tribunal sentenced six members of a Bulgarian family to four to seven years’ imprisonment for sex and labor trafficking offenses; the family forced six elderly Bulgarians to beg, among other crimes. In November 2014, 19 Nigerians were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for operating a prostitution network; approximately 30 women, located in various cities throughout France, were forced into prostitution. The Ministry of Justice continued to offer an annual training session for prosecutors and magistrates on France’s anti-trafficking laws.The government trained 19 judicial police on how to conduct investigations. France increased cooperation with international law enforcement agencies in 2014, as well as several cases with Bulgaria, China, and Romania to investigate trafficking cases.The government reported no new prosecutions or convictions of government employees complicit in trafficking offenses. In July 2014, the government launched a preliminary investigation into allegations that French soldiers stationed in the Central African Republic forced boy refugees to perform sex acts for money and food; the investigation was on-going at the close of the reporting period.

PROTECTION
The government sustained comprehensive protection efforts.The government had a formal procedure for identifying victims and an NGO-run referral mechanism.The government identified 467 victims of aggravated pimping and sex trafficking in 2014—440 females (including 27 girls) and 27 males (including one boy). By comparison, the government identified 912 victims of trafficking and pimping in 2013.This represents a significant decrease in the number of victims identified; however, the government provided more detailed information, including greater disaggregation of