French anti-incest body publishes recommendations to protect children

A woman holds a placard reading: "160,000 children are victims of sexual abuse every year" at a demonstration in Paris on 17 November,2021. © AP / Christophe Ena

An independent incest commission on Friday made 82 recommendations to the French government on the protection of children against paedophiles. In particular, it rasied the question of erasing the statute of limitations on child rape, as has been done in countries including Sweden, Norway, Belgium and Canada.

The 755-page report by the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise) comes on the back of three years of investigations, interviews and analysis.

Ciivise – which has 25 members including legal experts, psychologists, police representatives and activists – says a child is molested every three minutes.

✅La CIIVISE publie son rapport.

Ce qu'elle à dire après 3 ans d’engagement, d’écoute et d’action, c’est ceci : après des millénaires de déni, il est possible d'en sortir, de remettre la loi à sa place. C’est le sens des 82 préconisations formulées.

👉https://t.co/gK7Yikixrz pic.twitter.com/3E7YX8RuPp

— Commission indépendante sur l'inceste (@CIIVISE_contact) November 17, 2023

The report is based on some 30,000 testimonies, and addresses a serious public health issue "that destroys numerous children, with far-reaching consequences for society. It considers paedophiles extremely dangerous" says commission co-chair Édouard Durand, who is also a juvenile court judge.

Ciivise wants to see school nurses and doctors carry out annual screening and prevention appointments with children in an attempt to decrease the number who fall victim to sexual violence annually – a figure that stands at a staggering 160,000 in France alone.

The commission also wants to sexual violence to be identified in situations such as adolescent pregnancies, and hospitalisations following suicide attempts.

It points out that 70 percent of child sexual violence complaints are dismissed without further action, and proposes to ramp up judicial involvement.

Edouard Durand, co-chair of the Ciivise. YouTube

Ciivise accuses the government of being unclear about the future of the commission's mission beyond the end of this year. It has asked to be allowed to continue its work.

French President Emmanuel Macron launched the commission in January 2021 in reaction to the #MeTooInceste movement triggered by Camille Kouchner's book "La Familia Grande", describing incest committed by her stepfather, political scientist Olivier Duhamel, against the author's brother.