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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on Thursday that France failed to offer effective protection to three minors when they filed rape complaints.
The ECtHR highlighted serious shortcomings in how the investigating authorities and domestic courts handled the minors’ cases. The court found that the previous courts failed to assess the full context of the events properly and did not adequately consider the applicants’ vulnerability as minors, particularly concerning their capacity to understand and give consent. The court concluded that France violated the applicants’ right to be protected from inhuman or degrading treatment and the right to respect for private and family life under Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The ruling also said the French authorities’ guilt-inducing and moralizing remarks, which conveyed sexist stereotypes, subjected one applicant to secondary victimization. The court called out this treatment as gender-based discrimination and found it detrimental to the applicant’s dignity, violating Article 14 of the ECHR.
The applicants, Ms. L., Ms. H.B., and Ms. M.L., brought the case to the ECHR in 2021 and 2022. They were aged 13, 14, and 16, at the time they filed rape complaints. In Ms. L.’s case, the investigating judge dismissed her request to continue the investigation of the offense of rape using psychological coercion resulting from a significant age difference between 14-year-old Ms. L. and two 21-year-old men who were firefighters who lived near her home. The French domestic court viewed that a 14-year-old has the necessary understanding to be capable of consenting to sexual acts and that it is up to the trial courts’ sole discretion to assess the consent based on the facts and evidence gathered during the investigation.
In Ms. H.B.’s case, the domestic court dropped the charges against the accused 21-year-old man and a 29-year-old man, and the appellate court dismissed the request for further investigations and acquitted the defendants. In Ms. M.L.’s case, the judge decided to stop the legal process because the evidence did not meet the necessary standards for violence, coercion, threat, or taking advantage according to Articles 222 and 223 of the Criminal Code. The judge also found there was no proof that the accused intended to force Ms. M.L.
Rights advocates have emphasized that the case highlights the urgent need to address the absence of the concept of “consent” in the legal definition of rape under French law, an issue previously brought to public attention during the Dominique Pelicot trial last year. In December, Pelicot and 50 other men were convicted in a highly publicized rape trial after Pelicot admitted to drugging and raping his now ex-wife, Gisele Pelicot, and inviting strangers to rape her while she was unconscious.
Under Articles 222 and 223 of the Criminal Code, “rape” is defined as “any act of sexual penetration, of any nature whatsoever, committed on another person or on the perpetrator by violence, coercion, threat, or surprise.” Rights organizations have urged the country to amend the definition to criminalize rape based on the lack of consent, and a November 2024 poll found that 9 out of 10 French people supported such a change in the law.
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The ECtHR highlighted serious shortcomings in how the investigating authorities and domestic courts handled the minors’ cases. The court found that the previous courts failed to assess the full context of the events properly and did not adequately consider the applicants’ vulnerability as minors, particularly concerning their capacity to understand and give consent. The court concluded that France violated the applicants’ right to be protected from inhuman or degrading treatment and the right to respect for private and family life under Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The ruling also said the French authorities’ guilt-inducing and moralizing remarks, which conveyed sexist stereotypes, subjected one applicant to secondary victimization. The court called out this treatment as gender-based discrimination and found it detrimental to the applicant’s dignity, violating Article 14 of the ECHR.
The applicants, Ms. L., Ms. H.B., and Ms. M.L., brought the case to the ECHR in 2021 and 2022. They were aged 13, 14, and 16, at the time they filed rape complaints. In Ms. L.’s case, the investigating judge dismissed her request to continue the investigation of the offense of rape using psychological coercion resulting from a significant age difference between 14-year-old Ms. L. and two 21-year-old men who were firefighters who lived near her home. The French domestic court viewed that a 14-year-old has the necessary understanding to be capable of consenting to sexual acts and that it is up to the trial courts’ sole discretion to assess the consent based on the facts and evidence gathered during the investigation.
In Ms. H.B.’s case, the domestic court dropped the charges against the accused 21-year-old man and a 29-year-old man, and the appellate court dismissed the request for further investigations and acquitted the defendants. In Ms. M.L.’s case, the judge decided to stop the legal process because the evidence did not meet the necessary standards for violence, coercion, threat, or taking advantage according to Articles 222 and 223 of the Criminal Code. The judge also found there was no proof that the accused intended to force Ms. M.L.
Rights advocates have emphasized that the case highlights the urgent need to address the absence of the concept of “consent” in the legal definition of rape under French law, an issue previously brought to public attention during the Dominique Pelicot trial last year. In December, Pelicot and 50 other men were convicted in a highly publicized rape trial after Pelicot admitted to drugging and raping his now ex-wife, Gisele Pelicot, and inviting strangers to rape her while she was unconscious.
Under Articles 222 and 223 of the Criminal Code, “rape” is defined as “any act of sexual penetration, of any nature whatsoever, committed on another person or on the perpetrator by violence, coercion, threat, or surprise.” Rights organizations have urged the country to amend the definition to criminalize rape based on the lack of consent, and a November 2024 poll found that 9 out of 10 French people supported such a change in the law.
The post European rights court finds France failed to protect child victims of sexual assault appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.