The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ruled that French authorities failed to protect three women from rape when they were minors. File Photo courtesy of the European Court of Human Rights
April 24 (UPI) — The European Court of Human Rights announced Thursday it has determined that French law and practice failed to protect three minors from sexual assault.
In court documents released by the ECHR, each of the three plaintiffs alleged that “investigating authorities and the domestic courts had failed to protect the applicants, who had complained of acts of rape and had been aged only 13, 14 and 16 at the relevant dates, in an adequate manner.”
The ECHR found the “French State had failed to fulfil its duty to apply, in practice, a criminal-law system capable of punishing non-consensual sexual acts,” and that it “was not called upon to rule on the criminal liability of those who had perpetrated those acts and that its findings could not therefore be interpreted as an opinion on the guilt of the accused in the respective cases.”
The applicants filed their suit in order to move France to “enact and apply criminal law provisions that effectively punish rape reported by teenage girls below the age of majority.”
All three plaintiffs allege that their “status as minors and their situation of vulnerability at the time of the events were not adequately taken into account.”
Two of the applicants further purport that “authorities did not promptly comply with their obligation to investigate and punish the perpetrators of the offenses they had complained of,” one of whom also alleges she was “subjected to secondary victimization and discriminatory treatment” during criminal proceedings.
The ruling found that France failed to meet its obligations under Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR, which relate to “prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment” and the “right to respect for private life.” The ECHR also ruled that France has failed to meet its obligation under Article 14, which is “prohibition of discrimination.”
Each of the plaintiffs will receive financial compensation as part of the judgment, with the remainder of the claims dismissed.