Received by the Minister of National Education, the mother of Lindsay, a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide because of school bullying, said she was “lost” and “alone”.
By NB with AFP
© XOSE BOUZAS / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
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Ihe Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye received, this Monday afternoon, June 5, the family of young Lindsay, 13, who committed suicide in May after being the victim of school bullying. “It seems insufficient to me”, reacted Betty, her mother, at the end of the meeting. “There are things that have been said, but not taken seriously.” The mother of the family even went further by evoking the minister: “I did not find him sincere. I’m waiting for things to move, I’m waiting to see action, ”she said, visibly moved. “We were not helped in time, neither before, nor during, nor after”, she added, saying to herself “lost”, “alone” and “not helped”.
Pap Ndiaye had recognized, Thursday, that “the death of Lindsay, his suicide”, was “a collective failure”, “a tragedy for his loved ones, for National Education and for the country, as for the suicide of anyone what a young man.” He had also assured to follow “personally” the file of the suicide of the young girl. “The minister wanted first of all by this meeting to give all his support and express his emotion to the family of Lindsay in the face of this tragedy”, specified the rue de Grenelle in a press release.
But at the end of the meeting, the family’s speech turned into an indictment against the minister and his anti-harassment policy. The family lawyer, Mr.e Pierre Debuisson, thus explained to have “the feeling that the awareness is real, but that it is not very deep, very serious. It may remain on the surface. “No concrete measures, no financial means allocated to this cause which nevertheless requires a national debate. “We don’t feel it’s going to evolve,” he said.
The reaction of social networks deemed “too slow”
Three complaints have been filed against the management of the college, the Lille academy and the police officers in charge of the investigation for “non-assistance to anyone in danger”, detailed Thursday the family lawyer, Mr.e Pierre Debuisson, during a press conference in Vendin-le-Vieil (Pas-de-Calais), where the schoolgirl was educated.
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A fourth complaint targets the social network Facebook, “completely failing” in terms of content moderation and the fight against “hate speech”, according to the lawyer, denouncing the continued harassment against Lindsay, in particular on Instagram.
The family’s lawyer considered the minister’s admission of helplessness “frightening [Pap Ndiaye] himself, of the French State vis-à-vis social networks”. ” He [Pap Ndiaye] explained to us in black and white that France was totally incapable of curbing this outburst of hatred and violence on social networks, on Instagram, on Facebook, on TikTok,” denounced Mr.e Debuisson. “This admission of powerlessness, it is staggering, unacceptable,” he castigated.
Last week, Pap Ndiaye acknowledged that social networks “have their share of responsibility”. It is even necessary, according to him, to “put them under more accentuated pressure”. “With other ministries, we will consult and act extremely firmly with regard to social networks because, beyond what they can say, we know that their reaction is too slow and certainly not at the height of what we expect from them, ”the minister insisted on Thursday.
The minister had also promised to “invite the main managers of social networks to exchange views, in particular the Meta France group (Facebook, Instagram), SnapChat, TikTok and Twitter, in conjunction with the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas Territories. , the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry in charge of the Digital Transition and Telecommunications”. He also said that on Tuesday, all the rectors would be brought together to “mobilize” them again against the “scourge” of harassment.