Government to set age of consent at 15

This nation’s government wants to set the age of sexual consent at 15 and make it easier to punish long-ago child sexual abuse, amid growing public pressure and a wave of online testimonies about rape and other sexual violence by parents and authority figures.

Child protection activists and victims celebrated the announcement but say France needs to do more as a society to stop this abuse.

France’s lack of an age of consent — along with statutes of limitations — have complicated efforts to prosecute alleged perpetrators, including recent cases involving a prominent modeling agent, a predatory priest, a surgeon and a group of firefighters accused of systematic abuse.

“An act of sexual penetration by an adult on a minor under 15 will be considered a rape,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said on France-2 television. Perpetrators no longer could cite consent to diminish the charges, he said, though exceptions would be made for teens having consensual sex.