The Council of Europe has raised concerns about France’s protection of women against sexual assault and violence. In a report released on Tuesday, experts acknowledged that some "progress" has been made but stressed that "urgent measures" are still needed.
The Council of Europe's Group of Experts (Grevio) oversees the implementation of the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty that came into force in 2014 to establish legally binding standards to prevent violence against women.
In this first thematic report on France's implementation of the text, the group expressed particular concern about the low rate of prosecutions of perpetrators of sexual violence.
According to its research, 83 percent of these cases are dismissed, and up to 94 percent in cases of rape.
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Grevio is urging French authorities to "take strong measures" to ensure that sexual violence is more widely prosecuted, particularly by "improving investigations and evidence gathering".
The group is also calling for police and judicial responses to be enhanced through improved investigation and evidence-gathering and the adoption of a definition of sexual violence based on the absence of the victim’s freely given consent.
Grevio expressed alarm at an increase in attacks against girls and young women, citing data from the National Observatory on Violence Against Women, according to which "more than half of the victims of sexual violence and rape in 2022 and 2023 were minors."
Young victims, young perpetrators
The number of young perpetrators is high, with a growing acceptance among young men of the "masculinist" stereotypes conveyed on social media, the report noted.
Grevio however acknowledged that legislative advances had been made to strengthen the protection of women and their children, in the wake of the 2019 Grenelle Forum on Domestic Violence.
Experts welcomed the implementation of new measures, such as anti-relationship bracelets, emergency assistance for women who have left their violent partners, and the "new start package" aimed at quickly releasing aid to these women.
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However, one of the challenges faced by French authorities is dealing with sexual assault committed by minors.
According to the psychiatrist Anne-Hélène Moncany, around 11,500 minors commit sexual violence each year, which represents around 30 percent of perpetrators of sexual violence against other minors.
President of the French Federation of Resource Centers for Those Working with Perpetrators of Sexual Violence (FFCRIAVS), Moncany points to "a real difficulty in representing children as potential aggressors".
"There is an urgent need to lift this taboo to protect children," she told French news agency AFP.
Focus on support
A report with some forty recommendations will be submitted to the government on Tuesday, urging it to strengthen prevention measures.
Adrien Taquet, former secretary of state for child protection and co-rapporteur with child psychiatrist Clémentine Rappaport said the treatment of perpetrators needs to be reviewed.
Taquet criticised the current approach as "solely repressive, based more on punishment than on more comprehensive support."
"The only way to hope to break the cycle of violence is for this punishment to be accompanied by therapeutic, social, and educational support," he says.
(with AFP)
