The Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise) will launch, Tuesday, a call for testimonies to listen to the victims of sexual assault in childhood, sometimes walled in silence for years, and s '' inspire their word to formulate a policy that will protect children.

The commission launches Tuesday, at 10 am, a telephone platform to collect the words of the victims and their close relations, often subjected to the omerta imposed by the aggressor.

The Duhamel affair in the background

“Child psychiatrists and psychologists report that children who are victims of sexual violence often appear without a mouth.

We, we say to the victims: you are listened to and understood, your word is believed, it will make it possible to build a public policy ”, explains the judge Edouard Durand, co-president of Ciivise and judge of the children for 17 years.

La Ciivise was launched in January in the wake of the publication of "La familia grande" by Camille Kouchner, who accused her father-in-law, the political scientist Olivier Duhamel, of raping his twin brother.

The book of the daughter of the former minister Bernard Kouchner had caused a shock wave, causing thousands of testimonies on the social networks under the hashtag #MeTooInceste.

Recommendations for 2023

Because they do not speak, the victims feel lonely. However, according to the national Virage survey of 2015, 14.5% of women and 4% of men have suffered sexual violence in their lifetime. More than half of women and two-thirds of men have experienced such violence before the age of 18. " We are here. We're listening to you. We believe you. And you will never be alone again. (...) Shame is changing sides today, "President Emmanuel Macron declared in January, rejoicing that" the word, everywhere in France, is free "and promising" to adapt our law to better protect children " .

Co-chaired by Nathalie Mathieu, director general of the Doctors Bru association, the Ciivise, placed under the aegis of the Secretary of State for Children, is made up of magistrates, lawyers, members of the police, researchers, psychologists or pediatricians.

Its mission is to hear the voices of incest victims, to better understand the scope and the driving forces of the phenomenon, and to formulate recommendations for public action by 2023.

Thirty years to speak

The Commission has heard from victims of incest since it began its work in March. “The people who speak do it for themselves, and also so that, today and tomorrow, children are protected and can grow up in safety. They told us: "you do not imagine the good that it does me that my word is received by a public authority" and "I do not want other children to undergo what I have undergone", explains the Judge Durand.

“The difficulty of speaking, I know the weight: it took me 30 years to tell my family.

They did not believe me and excluded me, ”explains Laurent Boyet, a victim of rape by his older brother between the age of six and nine.

“I thought I was alone because I didn't speak.

The faster we speak, the faster we will be able to rebuild ourselves, ”adds this associate member of the Ciivise.

From October 20, the members of the Incest Commission will go every month to the country to meet the victims and raise awareness among the population, by organizing public meetings, and by consulting professionals, judges, doctors, social services, police forces. order, institutions, looking for "good practices" to tackle these problems.

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  • Commission

  • Investigation

  • Olivier Duhamel

  • Child protection

  • Sexual violence

  • Child

  • Incest

  • Society