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Council of Europe Faults France’s Record on Sexual‑Violence Impunity, Urges Overhaul

GREVIO urges urgent action in France following findings of rare prosecutions in sexual‑violence cases.

Overview

  • About 83% of sexual‑violence cases are closed without prosecution in France, rising to roughly 94% for rape, with GREVIO pressing for stronger investigations and evidence collection.
  • Experts call for a legal definition of sexual violence based on absence of free consent and for a systematic analysis of why rape cases drop out of the justice process.
  • Data cited in the report show a rise in assaults, with more than half of sexual‑violence and rape victims in 2022–2023 being minors, alongside concern over growing masculinist influence on young men.
  • GREVIO notes advances such as anti‑approach bracelets, ‘grave danger’ phones, emergency aid and the ‘pack nouveau départ,’ plus 24‑hour provisional protection orders since June 2024, though some tools remain underused.
  • Persistent gaps include limited medico‑judicial access and non‑generalized evidence collection without a complaint, uneven police and judicial practices despite specialized units boosting prosecutions and convictions since 2017, and fragmented funding that has forced about half of associations to scale back activity.