Sexual violence in sport: towards stronger control of volunteers

Text by: RFI Follow

In France, numerous testimonies in recent weeks have highlighted dysfunctions in the management of sexual violence in sport. To take strong measures, the Ministry of Sports organized this Friday, February 21, a national convention on the prevention of sexual violence in sport.

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The freedom of speech is at the origin of this convention. And Sarah Abitbol is her figurehead. The former skater testified in a book about the sexual violence she suffered from her trainer. “ I can say that thanks to the liberation of speech in my book, shame turns into pride. That’s my greatest victory, it’s my Olympic gold medal today, ”she said.

►Read also: Sexual violence in French sport: the end of omerta?

Act quickly and act strongly so that this does not happen again, such is the ambition displayed by the Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu, this Friday, February 21. " Performing or having even more licensees can no longer be the only priority of the sports movement, the first (...) must be to ensure (the) security, physical and moral ", children, she hammered .

Its action will involve raising awareness, identifying and monitoring the legal past of the more than 3 million club volunteers. At this stage, this check is only systematic for professional educators. For volunteers, an experiment has been carried out since the start of the new school year in the Center-Val de Loire regional football league.

What human and financial resources?

The problem is that the implementation of such measures requires human and financial resources, which is sorely lacking in sports bodies, according to Gildo Caruso, youth and sports inspector, representative of the trade union of his profession. “ Today we have a dozen departments which are devoid of youth and sports inspectors. So, we have a real concrete situation where, out of ten departments in France today, how we are going to simply deal with the opening of administrative investigations, accompany the victims, punish people, verify that the accusations are proven, ”explains- there.

Will the promises be followed by a financial investment? To find out, the appointment is fixed for May where a second convention will take place to report on the progress of the ministry.

"A problem of instances"

Roxana Maracineanu took advantage of this day of exchanges which brought together several hundred actors from the world of sport and the associative fabric to send a clear message to the federations and their presidents, in particular to those who dried it. " The presidents who were not there for X or Y reason, I hope they will be there tomorrow, " she said. “ It is not a problem of women, it is a problem of authorities, and of high authorities. "

With the approach of the federal elections, which will follow the Olympic Games 2020, the Minister of Sports urged the future candidates to make the fight against sexual violence a central theme of their project.

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