September 21, 2021. La Ciivise, the Commission on incest and sexual violence against children, co-chaired by Judge Édouard Durand, is launching a telephone platform to collect the words of victims. And at the switchboard, the calls are numerous. “The commission will have to transfer to the competent authorities, and in particular to the judicial authority, the situations which justify a report. Of course, it is its duty as a public authority.“ warns the judge.
The majority of incest victims are women. The majority have been abused by a family member. The incest commission was launched in January 2021, after the publication of Camille Kouchner’s shocking book, The Big Family, published by Seuil. The main objective is to draw inspiration from the experiences of victims to define tools to protect children. A few months after the launch of the platform, testimonials continue to flow. A movement of great magnitude, says Édouard Durand.
“In the hours following the launch of the call for testimonials, the lines were saturated.”
Edouard Durandon franceinfo
“Hundreds and hundreds of people contacted the Civil Society to give their testimony. And in six months, we received more than 12,000 testimonies by telephone, in writing, by email, in our public meetings, during hearings at the civilized through our online questionnaire on our website”
Throughout this year, from one trip to another, from one hearing to another, certain testimonies have particularly marked him. “Very often these people would say, ‘I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life.’ hidden and which was revealed in broad daylight to the eyes of society as a whole. What strikes me in all the testimonies I have received is what I call the perpetual present of suffering. Having been the victim of violence childhood, incest, having been victims of any violence, whatever the form, it’s not a bad memory, it’s still present, it’s still water today today, water today in the body, water today in the soul, water today in the thought of today, in intimate life even in life sexual and emotional, says Edouard Durand.
He admits that this experience changed him. “In that it has hardened my resolve to fight impunity for perpetrators and to challenge our failures in our ability and even our collective will to protect children. It has changed me in that it has strengthened my determination to consolidate our rules to make professionals, whoever they are, more determined and better equipped to fight against the impunity of aggressors and strengthen the protection of children.” explains Edouard Durand.
This violence, he does not protect himself from it even if he says to himself “of course affected by the violence and sometimes the ugliness of the human face which is that of the aggressor when he takes action to obtain power over the other. And so, what allows me to hold on, this does not is not to protect myself, it is to accept anger at the same time, which is a very powerful engine to reinforce our capacity to protect. It is not by protecting ourselves that we continue. It is by acting and I continue. Even during the holidays, thinking about action, civilizing, preparing for the start of the school year. And all that is mixed with the joys of family life, with reading and rest.” concludes Édouard Durand.
Last March, the incest commission made its first conclusions halfway through. She advocates that doctors have a clear obligation to report their suspicions and that all victims have access to specialist care.