Paris (AFP)

"You will never be alone again": Emmanuel Macron announced on Saturday a series of measures to fight against sexual violence against children, welcoming that the victims' voice is free, in particular on incest.

"We are here. We are listening to you. We believe you," said the Head of State, addressing these victims in a video posted on social networks followed by tweets.

"The silence built by the criminals and the successive cowardice, finally, explodes", he adds, welcoming the "courage of a sister who could no longer keep silent".

He thus refers, without naming her, to Camille Kouchner who accuses, in the autobiographical story "La Familia Grande", his stepfather Olivier Duhamel, renowned political scientist, of having sexually assaulted his twin "Victor" at the end of the 1980s. The shock caused by this book reopened the debate on incest, a deeply taboo subject, and provoked numerous testimonies on Twitter with the hashtag #Metooinceste.

"It is now up to us to act", underlines Emmanuel Macron, who does not want to leave "any respite to the aggressors".

Patrick Loiseleur, vice-president of the association Facing incest, immediately welcomed the fact that "the President of the Republic is speaking again on this subject", after a previous intervention in the fall of 2017. "It was expected, given the scale of the social movement. "

Psychiatrist Muriel Salmona, president of the association Mémoire traumatique et victimologie, said she was "relieved" that Emmanuel Macron is reacting "finally to the historic movement #Metooinceste".

And to add on Twitter: "But above all do not disappoint us".

- Detection and support -

To adapt "our right", Emmanuel Macron asks the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti, and the Secretary of State for Children and Families Adrien Taquet to initiate "from Monday a consultation in order to deepen the avenues that will allow to strengthen the law to better punish the perpetrators and that it is no longer possible to hear that a child consents to a sexual relationship with an adult ", according to the cabinet of Mr. Taquet.

Several voices have been raised in recent weeks to make the crime of incest imprescriptible.

At the time when the assaults that "Victor" says he suffered in the late 1980s took place, the law provided that a minor victim could file a complaint for "rape by ascendant" for ten years from his majority.

Two laws have since extended this limitation period to 20 years in 2004 and then 30 years in 2018, but they are not applicable to facts already prescribed.

On Thursday, the Senate voted on a bill to create a new sexual crime to protect minors under 13, enriched at the last minute by specific measures to combat incest.

This vote arouses criticism on social networks because it would not go far enough.

Women have posted photos of them young: "I am 13 years old. I have a head to consent to sex?", Tweeted actress Alexandra Lamy.

Emmanuel Macron also announces a series of measures to better detect this violence "by grasping each sign, sometimes by going to look for these signs, these words, by asking children at school, at the hospital, by making every word possible, because anything that seems abnormal must be able to be said ".

Thus, two screening and prevention meetings will be set up - one at the primary level, the other at the college level - in the cycle of existing compulsory medical visits.

This measure is "capital" because "the earlier we do a screening, the faster we can intervene and limit the damage," said Patrick Loiseleur.

In addition, to "accompany the reconstruction", the "psychological care of children victims of sexual violence will be reimbursed", announces the president.

He also indicates that a mission to "collect testimonies and protect victims" is entrusted to Edouard Durand, children's judge at the Bobigny court and to Nathalie Mathieu, director of the Docteurs Bru association, specializing in childcare. victim of incest.

The latter take over from former minister Elisabeth Guigou, who on January 13 gave up chairing the independent commission on incest after being cited among those close to Olivier Duhamel.

© 2021 AFP