The government is preparing for mid-September a plan against violence against children, centered on sexual violence, according to the Secretary of State for Children Charlotte Caubel, who must detail the axes in the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. “We are in a tragic situation today: a child dies every five days in his family environment as a result of violence. Two to three children per class will experience incest phenomena. This concerns one in ten adults. A child is sexually assaulted every three minutes,” Charlotte Caubel told AFP.
She wants to “challenge her colleagues” in the government: “The fight against violence against children must become a fight worthy of the fight we have waged against violence against women,” she said. The Secretary of State wants to broadcast “a road safety type shock campaign” to raise awareness about incest in mid-September shortly after the start of the school year. “The numbers are astronomical and no one wants to see them. Everyone needs to open their eyes, that all adults feel concerned,” explains Charlotte Caubel.
The plan also aims to equip professionals in contact with children to better detect and report sexual violence: training will be put in place based on the tools developed by the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise) . The plan also intends to create a platform to support and guide professionals who have suspicions. “I want the government to deliver a discourse that mobilizes society: it doesn’t just happen to others, it’s massive, pay attention to your children and ask yourself about the behavior you have towards them,” says Charlotte Caubel.
This 2023-2027 plan will take over from the 2020-2022 plan against violence against children launched during the first five-year period. The fight against violence against children must be approached by “a collective and transversal approach”, because violence takes place at school, at the sports club, on digital, notes Charlotte Caubel, judging that it is necessary to “empower the parents of bullying children”. After the suicide of the young Lindsay victim of harassment, “young people formed a group ‘I will be at your funeral and I am happy'”, she remarks, judging that “we are also on a slope of decivilization “.