MEPs voted on Tuesday, June 17, in Strasbourg in favor of the abolition of limitation periods in the cases of sexual violence on minors – a debate that crosses all of Europe. After this very broad vote at first reading (599 for, 2 against and 62 abstentions), the European Parliament will have to negotiate with the member states and the Commission, which intends to extend (and not delete) the limitation periods.
The MEPs wanted to show that they were waiting for a change of gear in the matter. “There may be no time for justice when it comes to sexual violence on children”said the Dutch elected official Jeroen Lenaers (European People's Party, PPE, right), in charge of the text in Parliament. At present, limitation periods-duration beyond which a legal action is no longer admissible-vary considerably from one European state to another.
Some have abolished criminal prescription times for the offenses concerned. Others have very short prescription deadlines, which expire before the victim reaches the age of 40. In France, only crimes against humanity are imprescriptible. In criminal justice, the limitation period for rape is thirty years from the majority of the victim and twenty years from the facts if he was major.
Two new laws under study
Concerning civil justice, a bill from Aurore Bergé, a former deputy who became minister, aims to make the rapes on minors imprescriptible, while the current limitation period is twenty years, from the “Consolidation” – The moment when the victim is psychically stabilized. But French parliamentarians have hitherto opposed it. The senators nevertheless chose to extend the prescription at thirty years. This point could still evolve in the rest of the debates.
In Brussels, the European Union is currently preparing two new laws to fight sexual violence against children. That supported Tuesday intends in particular to fight against the creation and dissemination of child pornographic images through artificial intelligence (IA).
An amendment carried by François-Xavier Bellamy (PPE) also requires pornographic platforms that they concretely prevent minors from their content. The EU opened at the end of May an investigation against the Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVIDEOS platforms, suspected of not taking sufficient measures in the matter.
Source: Lemonde