- The number of complaints about rape or sexual assault increased sharply in 2019.
- For specialists, this increase is mainly the consequence of the liberation of the speech of women after the revelations concerning Harvey Weinstein.
- But for certain magistrates and association leaders, it is still possible to go further to encourage them to reveal the facts of which they were victims.
The trial of Harvey Weinstein opened this Monday in New York. After the first revelations from the New York Times in October 2017, more than 80 women, including some well-known actresses, accused the Hollywood producer of having harassed or sexually assaulted them. Others then engaged in social media using the now famous hashtag #MeToo. The case made it possible to free the speech of women victims of sexual violence who are also less and less hesitant to pass the door of a police station to report their attacker.
In 2019, 52,000 complaints of rape or sexual assault were thus recorded by the police and gendarmerie services, RTL revealed on Monday. Information confirmed at 20 Minutes by a ministerial source. It is therefore about 10,000 more complaints than in 2017 that were filed last year. "This does not mean that the phenomenon [sexual assault] is increasing," insists Place Beauvau. Above all, it is now easier to file a complaint and women are more daring to do so. Some media affairs have helped to free their speech. "
"The question of evidence is central"
"Women are talking more and more," also welcomes Emmanuelle Piet, president of the Feminist Collective against rape *. But, she adds, "it is not enough to file a complaint, justice must follow behind. Between 2009 and 2016, there was a 40% drop in rape convictions. ” In 2018, out of 34,000 people suspected of having committed sexual violence, less than 5,800 were convicted, or 17% of them. A figure that illustrates the difficulty for justice to hear cases, often old, where witnesses and physical evidence are sorely lacking.
"The question of proof is central to this type of case," confirms Katia Dubreuil, president of the Syndicat de la magistrature. When the aggressor's DNA is not found on the victim, "it is often the word of one against the word of the other," notes the magistrate. It is therefore necessary, according to her, to focus on prevention and “work on the training of professionals - magistrates, police, staff in schools - in order to collect the voices of the victims as soon as possible and in the best conditions, to help them to detect signals and relay their reports ”.
"We need real care"
Emmanuelle Piet goes further and proposes the creation of centers where "women would be received correctly" by hospital staff who would keep the evidence "without waiting to know if they want to file a complaint". They could then be heard, if they so wished, by "volunteer, selected and specially trained police officers". "It takes real care, that they are followed, heard, supported," she explains. Before adding that in Belgium, where several centers of this type have opened, around 68% of victims of sexual violence lodge complaints.
* Rape-Women Information: 0 800 05 95 95
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- metoo
- Violence against women