Thursday, February 9, the deputies unanimously adopted a text which provides for the withdrawal of parental authority or its exercise in the event of conviction.
SourceAFP
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VS’is a major step forward for children’s rights. Thursday, February 9, the deputies adopted in the first instance a text which provides for the withdrawal of parental authority or its exercise in the event of conviction for incestuous aggression or for a crime on the child or on the other parent. The text, carried by the deputy of the Socialist Party Isabelle Santiago, was adopted unanimously (232 votes for, 0 against).
“An aggressive or violent parent cannot be a good parent. You have to know who you are protecting, ”insisted MP Isabelle Santiago at the opening of the session.
The text will now have to be studied in the Senate. An examination which could take place as early as March 21, according to the Keeper of the Seals, Éric Dupond-Moretti, in favor of the text, and who announced from his first speech that “the government had seized the Senate for a rapid examination”.
Unless the judge decides otherwise
“A child dies every 5 days from domestic violence, according to a report issued by several inspections in 2018. […] When the child is a witness or victim of violence, he is in danger and the justice system must act quickly and effectively to protect him,” said Éric Dupond-Moretti.
“In case of withdrawal of the exercise of parental authority, the parent can no longer take part in decisions concerning the life of his child”, detailed the minister. In the event of withdrawal of parental authority in the proper sense, “he will not even be informed of the major stages in the life of his child”.
The discretion left to the judges was however added in committee to avoid a risk of unconstitutionality.
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Isabelle Santiago’s bill also plans to expand another mechanism, this time concerning people prosecuted but not yet convicted. The exercise of parental authority, visitation and accommodation rights will be suspended until the decision of the judge, or a possible decision of dismissal of the case of the investigating judge, in the event of prosecution for “incestuous sexual assault or crime committed” on the child.
This suspension would also be automatic in the event of “willful violence against the other parent resulting in total incapacity for work for more than eight days, when the child witnessed the facts”. This mechanism currently concerns only people prosecuted for crimes involving the other parent.
Issuance of protection orders made easier
The deputies also introduced into the text a “forced delegation of the exercise of parental authority in the event of prosecution” against a parent if he “is the sole holder of the exercise of parental authority”.
At the very end of the session, the deputies unanimously adopted (145 votes for, 0 against) another bill, by the deputy Cécile Untermaier, to promote the issuance of protection orders and extend the maximum duration of six to twelve months. The text was supported by the Keeper of the Seals, who however called for the wording to be refined “during the parliamentary shuttle” to avoid any risk of unconstitutionality.
The system allows the family court judge to provide urgent protection to victims of domestic or intra-family violence.