The French government aims to set the age for sexual consent at 15

The French government aims to set the age for sexual consent at 15

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Paris The French government wants to set the age of sexual consent at 15 and make it easier to punish sexual abuse of children that existed long ago amid increasing public pressure and a flurry of online evidence of rape and other sexual violence by parents and authority figures. The Ministry of Justice called such treatment of children “unbearable” in a statement that “the government is determined to act quickly to implement the changes our society expects.”

FRANCE ATTACK-CHILDREN-DEMO
Protesters hold posters with the words “Rape (do not agree)”, “Rape = crime” and “Solidarity with July”, 18 November 2020, in Paris during a protest called by feminist groups after a French court legal classification of ‘sexual offense’ in the indictment of three firefighters over the relationship with a 14-year-old minor, “July, in 2009. The Versailles Court of Appeal has requested that the charges be reclassified as ‘rape’, shown the hand.

THOMAS SAMSON / AFP / Getty


“An act of sexual penetration by an adult against minors under the age of 15 is considered rape,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told France-2 television on Tuesday. Consent could no longer be cited to reduce the charges, but exceptions would be made for teens who are in accordance with sex, he said.

The change will still have to be in the law, but the announcement is an important step after years of efforts to step up French protection for children who are victims of rape and sexual violence.

Scandal detects momentum

A pressure to set France’s first age of consent three years ago in the wake of the global #MeToo movement failed amid legal complications.

The attempt has gained new momentum since allegations surfaced over the past month about incestuous sexual abuse involving a prominent French political expert, Olivier Duhamel. It sparked an online #MeTooInceste movement in France that led to hundreds of similar testimonies.

Olivier Duhamel Portrait Session
Constitutionalist and French political scientist Olivier Duhamel poses during a portrait session on March 30, 2019 in Paris, France.

Eric Fougere / Corbis / Getty


The Ministry of Justice says it is in talks with the victim groups about toughening the punishment for incest and extending or abolishing the restrictions on child sexual abuse, which have prevented prosecution in several high-profile cases in France over the past few years.

It is also said to ‘want to ensure that victims of the same offender do not receive different legal treatment’, which could increase the possibility of prosecuting people accused of abusing several people over decades.

In the Duhamel case, the prosecutor in Paris launched an investigation into alleged “rapes and sexual abuse by a person exercising authority” over a child following public allegations made by his stepdaughter in a book that he twin brother abused in the 1980s, when the siblings were 13 years old.

Duhamel said he was “the target of personal attacks” and resigned from his numerous professional positions, including as a respected TV commentator and head of the National Foundation for Political Sciences.

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