On Thursday, 24 April, the European Court of Human Rights published a unanimous ruling in which it condemns France for failing to protect three minors who had reported rape.
In all three cases, the judges conclude that Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 8 (right to privacy) of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated.
The court finds that the [French] courts did not take the circumstances of the case—such as the consumption of alcohol and the consent of the teenage girls, who were 13, 14, and 16 years old at the time—into consideration to a sufficient degree.
The judgment explains that at the time, they found themselves in a “particularly vulnerable situation”.
Moreover, in two of the cases, the court notes, “[T]he criminal proceedings had not been conducted promptly or with due care.”
One of the three applicants, whose state of health required frequent emergency care, had accused 14 firefighters of rape when she was a teenager. With respect to her case, the court also condemns “the gender stereotypes used by the Investigation Division of the Court of Appeal”, finding that they “had served no purpose and had infringed the applicant’s dignity”.
It concludes that there was “secondary victimisation” and condemns France for “discrimination on the grounds of sex”.
The court takes care to reiterate that its findings cannot be interpreted as an opinion on the guilt of the persons accused.
Link to the judgment (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/gim (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)