“What leads us to resign is a lie” from the minister, says a former member

These resignations came after the ouster of the children’s judge Edouard Durand and the general director of the Docteurs Bru association Nathalie Mathieu by a government decision.

“What leads us to resign is a lie” from the minister, says a former member of the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise) Friday December 15 on franceinfo. The day before, Thursday December 14, Arnaud Gallais and ten other members of this commission launched in March 2021 announced their resignation to protest in particular against the ouster of Édouard Durand and Nathalie Mathieu.

The children’s judge and the general director of the Docteurs Bru association were replaced at the head of this independent commission on incest and sexual violence against children by the ex-rugby player Sébastien Boueilh and the legal expert Caroline Rey -Salmon.

On franceinfo, Arnaud Gallais denounced a lie that occurred two days earlier, Wednesday December 13 on RTL. Charlotte Caubel, Secretary of State for Children, affirmed that according to interviews conducted internally at Ciivise, “some no longer wanted to work” And “others including the vice-president” Nathalie Mathieu, “did not necessarily want to work in this pair anymore“.

“It’s completely false.“, protests Arnaud Gallais. “We sent her (Charlotte Caubel) a collective email on November 10, from the members of the Ciivise, asking for the maintenance of the Ciivise with Edouard Durand. She never deigned to respond, as she never deigned to respond neither to Edouard Durand nor to Nathalie Mathieu. And she also disagrees when she says (…) that Nathalie Mathieu no longer wanted to work with Edouard Durand, because Nathalie Mathieu always asked that ‘Edouard Durand be maintained’.

A “politicized” maneuver

The resigning member of the Ciivise sees in this renewal of the presidency of the independent commission a maneuver “politicized”with named people – Sébastien Boueilh and legal expert Caroline Rey-Salmon – who are “against a current” of the work carried out by Ciivise since its creation in 2021.

For Arnaud Gallais, judge Édouard Durand “embarrassed” since June 2023. La Ciivise had published a text “The cost of denial”. In this work, we can read that “the impunity of attackers and the long-term consequences of sexual violence for victims” cost “9.7 billion euros each year” in the state. After the publication of this text, “What is the government doing, and in particular Ms. Caubel? We are being given a support mission supposedly to help us with something,” relates the former member of the commission. There was an interrogation in October (…) which in fact aims to question the way in which the Ciivise was able to function” and was able to “appeal to the Feminist Collective against Rape”.

Arnaud Gallais, whose mandate ended at the end of the year anyway, regrets this “lack of communication” from the Secretary of State. The resigners claimed to have learned through the press of the maintenance of the Ciivise. According to him, these methods do not allow “a good transition” with the new team.