Launched in March 2021, the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise) submits its final report on Friday. It offers 82 recommendations.
A long-term job. The Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise) publishes its final report on Friday November 17, after three years of work. In 750 pages, she returns to the mission entrusted to her by Emmanuel Macron after the notable publication, in January 2021, of Camille Kouchner’s book on incest, The great family.
In this report, the commission provides a quantitative analysis of sexual violence against children, based on 30,000 testimonies from victims, but also taking into account statistical studies. It also formulates 82 public policy recommendations to better combat the phenomenon, including its perpetuation, while its mission must end at the end of 2023. Here is a summary of its work.
Sexual violence against minors is frequent, and mainly concerns girls
The observation. Some 160,000 children are victims of sexual violence each year, or one child every three minutes. In total, one in 10 people were victims of sexual violence as children, or 5.4 million adults. Eight out of 10 victims (83%) who confided in Ciivise are women. Children with disabilities are almost three times more likely to be victims of sexual violence. The violence begins at the age of 8 and a half on average. The latter are mostly (86%) repeated and last half of the time (51%) for more than a year.
The recommendations. To better identify victims, Ciivise requests that professionals be trained to systematically question adults and children about sexual violence, particularly in vulnerable situations (teenage pregnancy, attempted suicide of a minor). She also wants to organize a major annual national awareness campaign.
The commission also recommends that the effectiveness of the implementation of the two screening and prevention meetings in primary schools and middle schools, announced by Emmanuel Macron in 2021, be the subject of an evaluation. She suggests that these meetings be more frequent and that they also concern children and adolescents who are not in school.
The attackers are mostly men from the family
The observation. In the vast majority of cases (97%), the attacker is a man, often an adult (81%). These are mainly fathers (27%), brothers (19%), uncles (13%), friends of the parents (8%) or neighbors of the family (5%). The closer the attacker is to the child, the earlier the violence begins and lasts longer.
The testimonies collected make it possible to develop processes common to the attackers: identification and rapprochement of the victim, isolation of the victim – spatially or relationally –, devaluation of the child, reversal of guilt, establishment of a climate of fear and demand to the victim of silence or even recruitment of allies to dissuade the child from speaking out.
The recommendations. To prevent violence, the commission wants in particular to strengthen background checks via the Automated Judicial File for Perpetrators of Sexual or Violent Offenses (FIJAISV) by extending the retention period of data and allowing judicial police officers to consult it. or by facilitating its consultation in the event of recruitment for an activity in contact with children.
The consequences of violence on victims are significant
The observation. Nine out of 10 victims (89%) developed disorders associated with psychotrauma or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For example, one in two victims experience an eating disorder (47%) and physical problems (51%). One in three victims (31%) is affected by an addiction to alcohol, drugs or medication (especially men). One in four victims (24%) have resorted to self-harm (especially women).
Violence also has significant consequences on the emotional and sexual lives of victims. A third of them (31%) say, for example, that they have given up any form of sexual life. Finally, there are significant effects on social and professional life. Six out of 10 victims (62%) report that the violence has had negative consequences on their social relationships, such as difficulty forming bonds with others. And four in 10 (43%) say they have experienced a negative professional impact, due to a lack of self-confidence or a difficult relationship with authority, for example.
The recommendations. La Ciivise wants to guarantee specialized psychotrauma care for victims of sexual violence in childhood by implementing a care pathway 100% covered by Social Security. She also asks that the victims be subject to better compensation, based on the seriousness of the damage suffered.
When they speak, victims are not protected
The observation. Only one victim in 10 reveals the violence at the time of the incident (13%). When this is the case, 70% of children are believed. However, almost one in two children (45%) are not brought to safety and do not benefit from care once they have spoken. When they are the recipients of the child’s revelations, nearly six out of 10 professionals do not protect them. Worse, in a quarter of cases (27%), the person who receives the child’s revelations asks him not to talk about it. And in one in five cases (22%), he makes the child responsible for his aggression. More than six in 10 victims (63%) reveal the violence more than ten years after the events. Here again, they are believed most often, but the confidant does nothing in 40% of cases.
The recommendations. La Ciivise wishes to strengthen the reporting of violence by professionals, in particular by establishing an obligation for doctors to report child victims of sexual violence. To encourage professionals to report such situations, it wants to guarantee their disciplinary immunity, clarify and unify the hierarchical chain of reporting, but also systematize the feedback from the public prosecutor’s office on the alerts issued.
To better protect children, she also requests the creation of a child safety order (OSE) allowing the family affairs judge (JAF) to rule urgently on the terms of exercise of parental authority in likely case of incest. She also wants mediated visits, which are put in place when there has been a separation between child and parent by a court decision, to be suspended in cases of sexual violence.
Judicial treatment of violence has little success
The observation. The under-revelation of violence is “massive”, writes Ciivise, which estimates that a complaint is only filed in one in five cases (19%). The sooner the child discloses the violence, the more likely it is that a complaint will be filed. Men complain less than women, and they do so later.
Only one in six complaints for rape or sexual assault of a minor results in the conviction of the aggressor – one in 10 in cases of incest. When the attackers are sentenced, they are given sentences “derisory”, estimates the Ciivise. Between 2016 and 2020, 74% of them were sentenced to imprisonment, and 21% to suspended imprisonment. On average, attackers sentenced to prison for rape of a minor receive a sentence of four years.
The recommendations. To improve the judicial treatment of violence, the Ciivise recommends declaring rape and sexual assault committed against children imprescriptible. She also wants the creation of a specific offense of incest and recognition of the incestuous nature of sexual violence when committed by the victim’s cousin. It also calls for prioritizing investigations into sexual violence against minors and for criminal investigations to be carried out by specialized police officers. Judicial expertise must also be carried out by practitioners trained and specialized in sexual violence.
If you are a child in danger, if you are a person who witnesses or suspects sexual violence against a child or if you wish to seek advice, there is a national telephone number for children in danger: 119, open 24/7. The call is free and the number is not visible on telephone bills.
It is also possible to send a written message to 119 via the form to fill out online or to get in touch via an online chat: allo119.gouv.fr.
For deaf and hard of hearing people, a specific system is available on the website allo119.gouv.fr.