French government seeks law establishing age for sexual consent at 15

French government seeks law establishing age for sexual consent at 15

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Paris – The French government wants to set the age of sexual consent at 15 and make it easier to punish long-standing child sexual abuse amid growing public pressure and a wave of online testimonials about rape and other forms of sexual violence by parents and authorities. Calling this treatment of children “intolerable”, the Ministry of Justice said in a statement that “the government is determined to act quickly to implement the changes that our society expects”.

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Protesters hold placards with the words “Rape (not equal) consent”, “Rape = crime” and “Solidarity with Julie”, November 18, 2020, in Paris, during a demonstration called by feminist groups after a French court withheld the legal classification of “sexual rape” on the charge of three firefighters over relationships with a 14-year-old “Julie” in 2009. The Versailles appeals court rejected a request to reclassify the charges as “rape”.

THOMAS SAMSON / AFP / Getty


“The act of sexual penetration by an adult under the age of 15 will be considered rape,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told France-2 television on Tuesday. Consent could no longer be cited to lessen charges, but exceptions would be made for teenagers who have consensual sex, he said.

The change still needs to be enshrined in the law, but the announcement is a big step after years of efforts to toughen French protection for children who are victims of rape and sexual violence.

Scandal stimulates momentum

AN push to define France’s first consent age three years ago, in the wake of the global #MeToo movement, it failed amid legal complications.

The effort has gained new momentum since charges arose last month of incestuous sexual abuse involving a prominent French political expert, Olivier Duhamel. This sparked an online #MeTooInceste movement in France that resulted in hundreds of similar testimonies.

Olivier Duhamel portrait session
French constitutionalist and political scientist Olivier Duhamel poses during a portrait session in Paris, France, on March 30, 2019.

Eric Fougere / Corbis / Getty


The Ministry of Justice says it is in discussions with groups of victims over the toughening of punishment for incest and the extension or abolition of the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse, which has avoided the process in several important cases in France in recent years.

It also says it wants to “ensure that victims of the same perpetrator do not receive different legal treatment”, which could broaden the scope to prosecute people accused of abusing several people over decades.

In the Duhamel case, the Paris prosecutor opened an investigation into alleged “rape and sexual abuse by a person exercising authority” over a child after public accusations made in a book by his stepdaughter that he abused his twin in the 1980s 1980, when the brothers were 13 years old.

Duhamel said he was “the target of personal attacks” and resigned from his various professional positions, including that of a respected TV commentator and head of the National Political Science Foundation.

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