After a year of existence, the Independent Commission on Incest is making its recommendations on Thursday to protect children. Based on thousands of testimonies, it develops a series of measures, ranging from prevention and identification to legal treatment and compensation for violence.
“Child protection does not wait”, hammers the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise) in its interim report published on Thursday. To fight against the emergency – 160,000 children are victims of sexual violence each year, according to its estimates and those of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church – the Ciivise recommends a list of measures to be implemented. “Some of these recommendations call for modifications of a legislative nature. Others relate more to more protective professional practices. All are achievable quickly,” develops the commission set up in March 2021, in the wake of #MeTooIncest. These proposals were developed on the basis of numerous testimonies collected after the call launched in September. Since that date, the Ciivise, which is due to make its final conclusions in early 2023, has collected 10,000 stories from men and women, via telephone calls, emails, questionnaires or even public meetings.
A large part of the measures recommended by the experts of the Ciivise, co-chaired by the juvenile judge Edouard Durand and the director of the Doctors Bru association, Nathalie Mathieu, concern the judicial treatment of sexual violence. The commission demands, for example, that the person who has suffered this violence has a greater place in the criminal procedure. At the present time, the victim, constituted as a civil party, can only appeal the decision concerning damages and interest: she cannot contest either the guilt or the sentence. “Consequently, if an assailant is released by a criminal court or acquitted by an assize court, that is to say if his guilt is not recognized by the criminal court, the victim does not have the right to appeal against this decision, notes the committee. Currently, 70% of complaints filed for sexual violence against children are dismissed, according to the Ciivise.
Withdrawal of parental authority
In a first opinion dating from October 2021, the Ciivise explains that mothers are often accused of manipulation when the second parent is prosecuted for incest. It happens that they are condemned when they do not present their child when the turn of the guard comes from the father. One of the recommendations of the time has been heard: from now on, “when a parent accused of non-representation of a child alleges that the child is the victim of violence by the other parent, the public prosecutor must have these allegations verified before any prosecution for non-representation of a child », details the commission.
Today, the Ciivise insists on the need to suspend in the event of continuation, and to withdraw in the event of condemnation the parental authority of the aggressor parent. The commission also alerts on the means to be allocated for the care of victims in the judicial circuit. It recalls in particular the principle of “Mélanie rooms”, spaces offering a reassuring framework to allow the child to confide more easily. According to the commission, in January 2020, there were 29 rooms installed in law enforcement premises, and 71 rooms in hospitals. It recommends that each gendarmerie company now have a room of this type.
Better identify victims
Beyond the judicial field, the Ciivise also wants to act on the care and compensation from which the victim can benefit. In a questionnaire conducted on 5,317 people, it appears that only one out of two victims obtained medical follow-up. Even lower figure: 8.5% of the victims received specialized care in psychotrauma. “Medical and psychological care must be centered on the violence suffered and the trauma, more particularly on the traumatic memory of the violence”, reminds the committee. On the compensation side, the Ciivise recommends in particular its reassessment in adulthood, describing that “the final damage assessment report” can only be done at that time, certain traumas being able to reveal themselves years after the facts.
The Ciivise also insists on the prevention of violence, particularly in schools, as well as on the identification of victims, which it wants “systematic”, by ensuring that professionals working with children clearly pose “the question of the existence of sexual violence, and in particular of incest” students. Last summer, the government announced a plan to improve the identification of sexual violence at school, which included strengthening screening during compulsory medical visits. Not enough for the Ciivise, which recommends that all professionals “intervening in the various spaces welcoming children” (teachers, social workers, educators, etc.) are involved in identifying sexual violence.