[JURIST] The French Parliament [official website] on Wednesday passed legislation which will make it illegal to pay for sex within the nation. The new law will punish those who solicit prostitutes by issuing fines and ordering the completion of mandatory classes about the harmful effects of prostitution. It is reported that the fine [AP report] for the first offence will be 1,500 euros and 3,750 euros for the second. The new law against prostitution was passed with 64 votes in favor and 12 votes abstained. The bill was initially introduced in 2013 but the vote has been delayed for several years due to numerous hearings on the proposed legislation.

Other countries have also attempted to outlaw portions of the prostitution trade. Last week, the Constitutional Court of South Korea [official website] upheld [JURIST report] a law that punishes individual sex workers. The South Korean high court called prostitution “violent and exploitative in nature,” and that it therefore could not be non-coercive. In September 2010 the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (OSCJ) [official website] struck down [JURIST report] several provisions of Canada’s anti-prostitution laws, citing the danger they generate for sex workers. In Canada, prostitution itself is legal even though many ancillary acts are not. In 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada [official website] agreed to review a British Columbia Court of Appeal [official website] decision allowing a challenge [JURIST report] to the country’s anti-prostitution laws. In November 2009, the Constitutional Court [official website, Taiwanese] of Taiwan ruled that a law penalizing prostitutes [JURIST report] and not their clients was unconstitutional because it undermined equality under the country’s constitution.