The care of child victims will evolve with the new law.

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  • The bill aimed at strengthening the protection of minors against sexual violence is being examined from Monday at first reading in the National Assembly.

  • Visiting the Center for Victimology for Minors (CVM) at Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, the Minister of Justice recalled what it could change in the care of victims.

"The cultural revolution is that we are talking about these things today and I think that the shame has changed sides, obviously", launched this Monday the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, about sexual violence against minors.

On a visit with the Secretary of State for Children, Adrien Taquet, at the Center for Victimology for Minors (CVM) of the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, a structure which welcomes nearly 200 child victims of sexual violence every year, he welcomed the gradual release of speech on this subject since the publication of

La familia grande

by Camille Kouchner.

And the bill "to protect young minors from sexual crimes", examined from Monday in the National Assembly, could accelerate the movement according to him.

It could lead to new legislation in the spring, once the parliamentary process is completed.

If adopted, "no adult will be able to maintain that a child under 15 was consenting."

That's it, ”recalled the Minister of Justice.

The latter was confident that this age threshold would be adopted, which had not been the case in 2018: "The law must follow the evolution of society," he said. .

If the rape is qualified as incestuous, the text provides that the threshold for non-consent is then raised to 18 years.

The penalties would be twenty years of criminal imprisonment, whether or not it is incest.

"This law will change the posture of victims"

This age of non-consent, set at 15, is also considered an advance by the professionals in charge of victims.

“One day, a victim told me 'I confess' while telling me about what she had suffered.

It won't happen again, I hope.

Because this law will change the posture of the victims, who are often afraid of not being believed ”, explains Dr. Caroline Rey-Salmon, head of service of the medico-legal unit where the medico-legal findings of the injuries suffered by are carried out. the victims.

In most cases, the latter know their attacker.

“However, the closer the perpetrator of sexual violence is to the victim, the more difficult it is for the latter to reveal the facts,” she explains.

The fact of no longer questioning consent, if the text is adopted, "will allow children to be better heard," she continues.

"And that sends a clear prohibition to society", adds Mélanie Dupont, psychologist and president of the CVM.

Professionals are also waiting for this text to lead to "a real culture of prevention", underlines Mélanie Dupont.

"The law will allow us from the next school year to carry out a systematic identification at school of violence" suffered by a child, recalled Adrien Taquet.

A working group is currently working on the subject and will deliver its conclusions at the end of June.

Still unresolved points

But for professionals, there remains a big black point, not sufficiently addressed by the proposed law: the lack of training of all professionals in these questions.

"There is a big job to do on the side of the police and the gendarmerie", admits Adrien Taquet.

"We should also introduce a compulsory module on the detection of sexual violence in the training of doctors," said Caroline Rey-Salmon.

The other debate concerns the limitation period.

For rapes of minors, the proposal retains the current limitation period, of thirty years, from the date of majority of the victim.

But it would be extended in the event of a new rape of another minor, until the statute of limitations for the last crime.

Many associations ask that these acts be imprescriptible.

The discussions are therefore far from over.

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  • Child

  • Justice

  • Sexual violence

  • Incest

  • Police

  • Society