The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) sided Thursday with three women who said they were raped when they were aged 13, 14 and 16 and argued that French authorities did not do enough to protect them, reports The Independent.
The ruling will likely fuel the debate on the inclusion of consent in the law for sexual offences that was reignited by the drugging-and-rape trial that riveted France last year. France has taken steps to toughen punishment for rape and sexual misconduct, including setting 15 as the age of consent, but the notion of consent has yet to be introduced into the legal definition of rape.
In all three cases examined by the ECHR, the applicants argued that their age and their vulnerability at the time should have been better considered.
The ECHR ruled that the people in charge of investigating the alleged crimes and French courts did not do enough to protect the women who said they were raped. In two of the cases, the Court said that criminal proceedings were not handled quickly or with due care.
The court condemned France for violating articles of the European Convention on Human Rights that prohibit torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as the women’s right to respect for their private lives.