What we already know about the government’s plan to combat violence against children

On Wednesday 7 June, the Secretary of State for Children, Charlotte Caubel, presented to the Cabinet the main outlines of the 2023-2027 plan to combat violence against children which she will unveil at the beginning of the school year. At the microphone of Blue FranceCharlotte Caubel recalled some scary statistics on violence against children. “A child dies every five days in his or her family environment as a result of violence. Two to three children per class will experience incest. This affects one in ten adults. A child is sexually assaulted every three minutes » hammered. The government plan will also pay particular attention to the issue of sexual violence. Here are the first guidelines of the project.

Better violence training for childcare professionals

First major axis announced, formation “of the teaching staff and the world of animation, but also of health professionals”. Designed with the support of Ciivise (Independent Commission on Incest and Child Sexual Abuse), this training aims to enable childcare professionals to better identify and report sexual assault. The Ciivise estimates that 160,000 minors are victims each year in France.

A support telephone platform

Another tool made available to childcare professionals, a telephone platform is expected to be implemented later this year to support and guide childcare professionals in case of concerns. According to the Secretary of State, they will be able to find adequate help and a referral to local systems.

A national communication campaign

Charlotte Caubel also mentioned a “ shock campaign such as road safety », released in September, to raise awareness of sexual violence within the family. As our colleague of the World, “the explicit mention of the word ‘incest’ in the campaign, commissioned by the pioneering association Face à l’inceste, is not definitively registered”.

However, this request is part of a broader desire to recognize incest as a specific crime and not as a superqualification of rape or sexual violence, as is the case today in the penal code. “To fight a public health scourge, you have to start giving it a name”points out the Face with incest association on its web page.

A strengthened legal arsenal

In a column published April 9 on the website of World, Face à l’inceste deplores numerous juridical dysfunctions which do not allow effective protection of minors who are victims of incestuous crimes. In the association’s sights in particular, the primacy of the principle of parental authority, which too often persists, even when the minor reports acts of incest.

If the Guardian of the Seals announced on May 23 the strengthening of the legal arsenal dedicated to intra-family violence, many associations denounce measures that are still insufficient. In the Council of Ministers, on 7 June, Éric Dupont-Moretti also recalled the existence of a “toolbox” on the judicial treatment of violence against children, e «invites magistrates to coordinate with all those involved in childhood, which involves, for example, the signing of agreements with school leaders in view of the early diagnosis of maltreatment»as detailed The world.

Cross-functional cooperation

At the microphone of Blue Franceadded Charlotte Caubel declaring that the fight against violence against children must be tackled by “a collective and transversal approach” Why violence takes place at school, at the sports club, on digital media.

Other measures are therefore envisaged to mobilize all relevant actors, e.g “the generalization in each department, by 2024, of pediatric reception units for children at risk, which offer, in hospital, multidisciplinary assistance to child victims or also the review of the status of ad hoc administrators, designated to accompany minors in proceedings judiciary, and which from now on will be called “legal sponsors””.

For the Collectif enfantiste, this collective mobilization is essential to raise awareness, prevent, support and protect minors. “An abused child is a failure for our society », he tweeted. It remains to be seen whether the 2023-2027 plan, which follows the 2020-2022 plan presented in the last five years, will actually achieve its objectives.

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