the disappointment of associations for the protection of children and the fight against incest

“We had been told about a strong and clear ban, we ended up with a gas plant. “ The day after the vote at first reading, on the night of Monday, March 15, in the National Assembly, of a bill intended to fight against sexual violence against minors, associations for the protection of children and the fight against incest express their disappointment with certain provisions adopted.

Admittedly, the creation of two independent offenses, one criminal, the other tort, punishing any sexual act committed by an adult on a minor under 15 years of age is “An advance in certain cases, for the oldest aggressors and for minors under 13”, recognizes Pascal Cussigh, secretary of the Children’s Collective, which brings together 33 associations.

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The text, from the centrist ranks of the Senate, where it has already been voted on at first reading, indeed establishes an age threshold, set at 15 years, below which no child could be recognized as consenting. With one exception, nicknamed the “Romeo and Juliet clause”, which aims to protect relations between a minor and an adult whose age difference is less than five years.

“We will continue to question children’s consent”

On the pretext of protecting “adolescent love affairs”, the text establishes a mandatory age gap of five years for resorting to new offenses. “For a young adult of 18 years and a day who assaults a little girl of 13 and a half years, the new incriminations do not apply. It is a condition of strict age difference, and not an exception ”, therefore considers Pascal Cussigh. Since then, “We will continue to question the consent of children aged 13 or 14 when it comes to aggressors aged 18 or 19”, he laments. In these situations, it is in fact the old penal regime that will apply, with the search for proof of coercion (which amounts to questioning the consent of the victim) to qualify the facts of sexual assault or rape. .

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The coexistence of different systems “Makes the message unreadable”, gets carried away Michèle Créoff, member of the Collective for Children. “Between the age gap, the new offenses, the old regime and the offense of sexual assault, we will end up with five applicable regimes », She denounces, pointing out the risk of unconstitutionality. She remembers the painful memory of 2018, when the government’s stated intention to establish an age of non-consent had fizzled out, when a law was passed against gender-based and sexual violence.

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