“A titanic and life-saving job.” Senators from all political groups on Monday called on President Emmanuel Macron to “maintain” the Ciivise (Independent commission on incest and sexual violence against children). They want the commission to be maintained in “its current structure” to “ensure vigilant monitoring” of its recommendations concerning the protection of children against child criminals.
The Ciivise, whose work began in March 2021, must submit its final report on November 20. Last September, she had already submitted a report, in which she estimated that 160,000 children were victims of sexual violence each year in France.
“We, senators who are members of the Senate women’s rights delegation, call for the maintenance of this unique structure and the extension of its work,” write the 36 members of the delegation, including its president Dominique Vérien (centrist), in a transpartisan open letter to President Macron. “The Ciivise has indeed accomplished a titanic and life-saving work,” they underline, recalling that it has “collected nearly 30,000 testimonies from victims of sexual assault and incest”.
“His mission must continue”
The elected officials say they are “convinced that its mission must continue, with the same co-presidents, for the sake of continuity”. “The expectation is still high on the part of the victims” who find in the Ciivise “a benevolent and reconstructive space of expression”, observe the signatories, including the socialist Laurence Rossignol. “Their testimonies contribute to a general awareness of the extent and mechanisms of sexual violence against children, which fuels sexist and sexual violence throughout our society,” they argue.
They consider it “essential to ensure follow-up of the precise recommendations formulated by the Ciivise to strengthen the capacities to protect children and fight against the impunity of child criminals”. “Maintaining a structure to ensure vigilant monitoring is a guarantee that they do not remain a dead letter. The protection of children demands it.”
They “solemnly” ask the President of the Republic to “extend the existence of the Civil Society in its current form and structure in order to benefit from the experience and knowledge acquired during these two years by the leaders of this commission”. These are the co-presidents Édouard Durand, children’s judge, and Nathalie Mathieu, general director of the Docteurs Bru association, which welcomes victims of incest.
In September, around sixty personalities made the same request to the President of the Republic, including actress Emmanuelle Béart, who herself revealed that she had been a victim of incest. “Mr. President of the Republic, the cost of maintaining the Ciivise is insignificant compared to the cost of denial,” they launched in a column published in The world.
2023-11-13 15:00:55
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