Incest: breaking the omerta and protecting children

Audio 19:30

In "La familia grande", Camille Kouchner accuses the political scientist Olivier Duhamel of incest.

© JOEL SAGET / AFP

By: Juliette Gheerbrant Follow

22 min

One in 10 people say they have been a victim of incest in their childhood, according to an Ipsos study in France, for the association Face à inceste.

In Germany, one in seven children is sexually assaulted, according to a study by the University of Ulm.

Thanks to the publication of Camille de Kouchner's book on the rape of his twin brother by his stepfather Olivier Duhamel, the omerta that still hangs over these cases begins to break down.

Publicity

The hashtag #meetooincest has flourished on social networks, and the word is free.

Our reporter in France

Lise Verbeke

met Viviane, victim of incest 40 years ago, who recounts the difficulty she had to rebuild herself, and Maître Anne-Laure Pillon, lawyer who explains how the legal action also participates in this reconstruction.

The French Senate has just voted for a bill intended to protect minors under 13, but before legislating the government, will begin consultations.

What are the different European countries doing?

Daniel Vigneron

, from

the myeurop.info site

, answers us. 

© myeurop.info

Protecting children also involves prevention: in November 2020, France extended a telephone reception to the whole country to prevent acts of violence.

Such a device, already tested in a few regions, has existed for more than 15 years in Germany, explains our correspondent in Berlin,

Julien Méchaussie

.

In cases of pedophilia, young girls can be doubly victimized: because getting pregnant outside of marriage, whether there has been rape or not, still leads to rejection in some countries.

In Ireland, until 1998, there were homes for single mothers, where newborns were often confiscated for placement.

A 3,000-page report has just revealed the extent of this tragedy.

In Dublin, our correspondent

Emeline Vin

collected the testimonies of two women, one gave birth in one of these houses, the other was born there.

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  • Rights of the child

  • France

  • Germany

  • Ireland

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#MeetooInceste: "the priority is to put an end to this violence and for that to train the professionals"