France mulls introducing consent age

– The French government has backed the introduction of a minimum age of sexual consent, a move that would bring it in line with most other Western countries, following years of campaigning by abuse victims.

The push for a change in the law has been given extra impetus by allegations brought by a woman who claims she was raped by more than 20 firefighters when she was a teenager.

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said the government was “favourable that a new crime be established, whereby any act of sexual penetration by an adult involving a minor aged 15 is a crime”.

His proposal goes further than a Bill drafted by members of the Senate, which calls for the age of consent to be set at 13.

Speaking to France 2 television, the minister said public opinion had shifted on the issue of sex between adults and minors, long shrugged off in France as harmless in cases where the relations were presented as consensual.

Dupond-Moretti said the current requirement for underage victims to prove they were forced, threatened or duped into sex to bring charges of rape or sexual assault should be scrapped.

His office said in a statement the minister wanted to ensure “equal treatment of all underage victims” in the eyes of the law.

Judges were due to rule late yesterday on a case brought by a woman known only as Julie (not her real name), who claims she was attacked during 2008 and 2010, when she was repeatedly hospitalised for anxiety attacks.

Each time she was taken to hospital required the intervention of the ambulance service, which is staffed by firefighters.

Three firefighters were initially charged with gang rape but the charges were later downgraded to sexual violation under a law that makes it an offence – but not a crime – for someone in a position of authority to have sex with a minor. –