This is an interesting little piece I saw a while back on the BBC’s website:

French parking fine dodger upheld

The article is on a woman who won a court battle against the city of Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb of Paris, because the parking meters only took prepaid cards not cash.

The article states that many parking meters in Paris only take prepaid cards because "vandals" were breaking into meters and taking the cash.

What the story did not say was that some social workers and researchers who work in Paris on prostitution and human trafficking issues believe that the majority of these “vandals� were Roma young adults and children who lived within and on the outskirts of Paris.

These social workers believe that many of the Romas are “trafficked" in a similar scheme that went on for possibly as long as 10 years in New York City with deaf and handicapped children from Mexico who were forced to sell key chains on New York subways.

In the New York City case, deaf and handicap people would pass out cards stating they were deaf, and they would give you a little key chain trinket if you gave them money. -I lived in New York during this time and would see them occasionally on the subways...not giving them much second thought.

I have read different stories as to how this situation was discovered, but the police raid revealed pretty horrendous living conditions for these people.

Some believe that these Roma children & young adults in Paris were being "shaken down" in a similar fashion, and their easiest way to get cash was through “vandalizing� the parking meters.

The social workers noticed an increase in teenage male prostitution, many who were Roma or Eastern European, coinciding with the change from coin operated parking meters to pre-paid card meters.

It was assumed that because the parking meters no longer offered a means for cash, prostitution was what was left.

Ironically the place for young male prostitutes to work is in woods of Billancourt, which is on the outskirts of where this court case took place.

The woods of Billancourt is also considered to be the main hangout for transgenders working as prostitutes -some of whom have trafficking or heavy handed pimp stories as well, but get far less attention due to their being transgenders.

For most readers, this BBC story is probably nothing more than a silly little humor piece.

If some background had been included on the “vandals�, this story could have been about a human rights matter.