PARIS (Reuters) – France will tighten its infamous laws, President Emmanuel Macron said in a series of tweets on Saturday, following the publication of a book accusing a French political commentator of abusing his stepson. country unleashed it.
Macron said on his Twitter account that France needs to amend its laws to better protect children from sexual violence, and he asked the justice minister to chair a consultation to quickly make legislative proposals.
“We will run after the attackers,” Macron said.
Macron said France had already increased the statute of limitations for incest up to 30 years, counting from the legal age of the majority of the victim, and that it had tightened control over people working with children, but he said much more had been done must be.
He said France, as part of the current routine medical examinations for children, would set up sessions on incest in primary and secondary schools to give children the chance to talk about the issue.
He also said that better psychological help would be made available to victims of incest and that it would be compensated by social security.
Over the past few weeks, hundreds of people have turned to social media to tell their stories of incest following the publication of the book that accused French professor and constitutional specialist Olivier Duhamel of abusing his stepson.
The book was written by Duhamel’s stepdaughter Camille Kouchner, daughter of the former foreign minister and founder of the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières Bernard Kouchner.
Duhamel resigned from his post as supervisor of Sciences Po, one of the best universities in France, earlier this month following the publication of the book.
“Because I am the object of personal attacks and the institutions in which I want to preserve work, I have put an end to my functions,” he said on Twitter on January 4.
Neither Duhamel nor his lawyer commented on the 1980s allegations.
Minister of Higher Education Frederique Vidal has ordered an inspection at Sciences Po to determine responsibilities and possible shortcomings.
(Reported by Geert De Clercq and John Irish; Edited by David Holmes)