“I speak for myself and to protect other children.” After a year of work and the collection of 16,414 testimonials, the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Abuse of Children (Ciivise) makes its copy. Created after the publication of the book Camille Kouchner on incest, The large family, the ciivise has published Wednesday, September 21 his assessment of a call for testimonies which will have lasted one year. As the budget discussions for 2023 approach, franceinfo returns to the five recommendations of the commission developed in its final report requiring “the allocation of additional financial resources”.
Introduce the systematic identification of violence
This is one of the strong measures defended by the commission co-chaired by the highly publicized judge for children Edouard Durand: the implementation of systematic identification of violence.
The goal is to no longer leave to “160,000 child victims of sexual violence each year”, the responsibility to break the silence. For this detection to be possible, the Ciivise recommends that the question of possible violence be systematically posed to the child by the professionals who revolve around the sector of the first age. “As a teenager, a teacher found it strange that I never revolted. But no one ever asked the question: why?”, testifies anonymously one of the victims near the Ciivise. This systematic detection should concern also doctors, school nurses, social workers, or educators.
For this to happen, professionals must inspire trust to small victims with a “proactive attitude of each adult and of the institution in which he works”, insists the Ciivise. The committee also calls for strengthening “human resources in all living spaces frequented by children” so that identification can be done. Staff should be trained in “initial and continuous” on the issue of sexual violence, adds the Ciivise.
Create a support unit for professionals
While one in ten people were victims of sexual violence in childhood according to the commission’s count, professionals in contact with children are regularly called upon to hear from the people concerned during their career. A situation that engages them, since from the first account of sexual violence, school doctors or nurses will have to bring the victim to emergency safety. “This situation is likely to generate stress for the adult himself”, notes the Ciivise, which calls for the creation of a support unit for professionals available by telephone throughout the national territory. It must be made up of all the trades concerned (health, education, police, justice), insists the Ciivise.
Increase the means to fight against cybercriminality
In its report, the Ciivise makes an observation: cybercrime through online games is on the increase. “Grooming, namely the fact of creating a bond emotional with a child in order to reduce his inhibitions in order to attack him sexually, is up 3,000%”, figures the commission. However, France has only 30 dedicated investigators throughout the territory.
This lack of human and material resources “results in the identification of a very low number of aggressors and victims”, regrets the committee. It therefore recommends providing judicial police services specializing in cyberpedocrime “the necessary human and material resources”.
Provide specialized care for victims
Among the 16,414 testimonies collected by telephone, in writing and on the online questionnaire, the Ciivise highlights the great suffering expressed by women and men who were victims of sexual violence in their childhood. This suffering is manifested by the deterioration of the physical and mental health of the victims. People report unexplained pain, symptoms of psychotrauma (avoidance behavior, reliving), depression, suicide attempts, addictive behavior, eating disorders.
In detail, among the victims interviewed, nearly one in two women described eating disorders and nearly four in ten men reported addiction problems.“I can’t be in my body. I’m not actually there. I’m next to it. As if I’m dead inside“, one of the victims testifies anonymously to the Ciivise. Studies, work, family life, emotional and sexual life are also permanently affected. More than three out of ten victims evoke an absence of libido, a drop in this last, or even an absence of sexual life.
“It’s like the cells remember it physically. Like you feel everything in your body, all the time.”
An anonymous victimin the report of the Ciivise
The commission therefore calls for the establishment of a course of care for victims of sexual violence in childhood, with the specialization of practitioners to treat psychotrauma and financial support for this care for the victims.
The dissemination of a major information campaign
Since 2002 and the information campaign “To shut up, it’s letting go”the public authorities have no longer targeted a prevention campaign specifically on child sexual abuseregrets the committee. “However, the prevention of sexual violence is a collective responsibility. It is a great cause that must mobilize society as a whole. A major national campaign is needed”she insists.
This campaign will have to raise awareness of the manifestations of sexual violence among children and their consequences for the victims, but also to raise awareness of the possible remedies for the victims and to mobilize witnesses. Last requirement of the Ciivise: that this information campaign be “ambitious, repeated and accessible to all, in particular to people with disabilities”.