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WORLD NEWS Friday 22 January 2021
French victims of child abuse speak out in new #MeToo wave

PARIS (AP) — "I was 9. ... It boxes in schools to allow
was my father. He raped children to express their dis-
me until I was 17." tress through letters. Boyet
The French government said some of the written
pledged on Thursday to notes have led to legal ac-
toughen laws on the rape tion, including for alleged
of children after a massive sexual abuse.
online movement saw hun- The feminist activist be-
dreds of victims share ac- hind the #MeTooInceste
counts about sexual abuse campaign, Madeline Da
within their families. Silva, said "we are con-
The move comes in the vinced that children actu-
wake of child abuse accu- ally speak out and what's a
sations involving a promi- very big problem is that no
nent French political ex- one is hearing them."
pert. Even if children don't say
France's justice minister said the words, they still show
Thursday the government signs that they are suffer-
will soon present new legal ing "and no one is trained
measures to better protect to understand them," she
children, while a draft bill regretted.
has started being debated Signs on the wall reads "Duhamel, and the others, you will never be in peace" referring to promi- That's why, Da Silva said,
at parliament to toughen nent French political expert, Olivier Duhamel, in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. the movement is not only
laws on the rape of minors Associated Press about improving the laws
under 13. but above all about intro-
The social media campaign dren or younger siblings. and commenting under told The Associated Press. ducing immediate, child-
was launched Saturday by Hundreds of people shared the same hashtag. "We need to stop looking centered public policies.
activists of the French femi- appalling accounts about Laurent Boyet, 49, was away." "Today we know that when
nist group #NousToutes in how they were sexually among those who tweet- When he spoke to his moth- you're training social work-
reference to the #MeToo abused when they were ed. A police officer and er, over 30 years after the ers, teachers about pre-
movement that sparked a children: head of the association Les abuse started, Boyet said vention of violence, things
global debate about sexu- "I was between 11 and 14. Papillons ("Butterflies") fight- she answered: "I believe are changing: you're sav-
al harassment and assault. It was my brother. I'm now ing against child abuse, he you because I had doubts ing lives," she said.
The #MeTooInceste 57 and still a victim of that published a book in 2017 to about it." Her #NousToutes group
hashtag overwhelmed past." tell his story. He said he was "All the signals I had sent launched a petition urging
French social media in just "I was 8. Abused by my raped by his brother, who her, she got them but did the government to require
a few days. In French, the grandfather." was 10 years older than nothing," he recalled. systematic training of all
word "inceste" is widely "Just one amid so many him, when he was between "In 2021 we cannot keep people working with chil-
used to refer to any sexual others. I was 6-7-8 year-old, 6 and 9. quiet anymore, we need to dren, including teachers,
act between members of I don't remember." "I really hope society is go- take action," he added. social workers and officials
the same family, including Tens of thousands of peo- ing to have the courage Boyet's association started of sports and cultural asso-
abuse of children, stepchil- ple responded by sharing to face the problem," he in September placing mail- ciations. q

French doctor who made Down discovery closer to sainthood

By NICOLE WINFIELD a second one for him to be "As soon as the pro-abor-
Associated Press declared a saint. tion laws were drafted in
ROME (AP) — The French According to his official bi- western countries, Lejeune
doctor who discovered the ography, Lejeune in 1958 began advocating for the
genetic basis of Down syn- discovered the existence protection of the unborn
drome but spent his career of an extra chromosome with Down syndrome: he
advocating against abor- on the 21st pair during a gave hundreds of con-
tion as a result of prenatal study of the chromosomes ferences and interviews
diagnosis has taken his first of a child. It was the first across the globe in defense
major step to possible saint- time scientists had found of life," the group said.
hood. a link between an intellec- John Paul in 1974 made
Pope Francis on Thursday tual disability and a chro- Lejeune a member of the
approved the "heroic vir- mosomal anomaly; the Vatican's Pontifical Acad-
tues" of Dr. Jerome Lejeune, condition is now known as emy of Sciences think tank
who lived from 1926-1994 trisomy 21. and later named him the
and was particularly es- "Although the results of first chairman of the Pon-
teemed by St. John Paul II his research should have tifical Academy for Life, the
for his anti-abortion stance. helped medicine to ad- Holy See's main bioethics In this Aug.22, 1997 file photo, Pope John Paul II meditates by
The papal recognition of vance toward a cure, they advisory commission. the grave of his former friend geneticist Jerome Lejeune, during
Lejeune's virtues means are often used to identify John Paul visited Lejeune's a private visit to the Chalo-Saint-Mars cemetery near Paris.
that he is considered "ven- children carrying these dis- grave during the Paris Associated Press
erable" by the Catholic eases as early as possible, World Youth Day in 1997.
Church. The Vatican must usually with the aim of ter- Though John Paul made Francis too has strongly de- disabled or sick disposable.
now confirm a miracle at- minating pregnancy," the the church's firm opposition nounced what he calls to- He has likened abortion to
tributed to his intercession Jerome Lejeune Founda- to abortion a hallmark of his day's "throwaway culture" hiring a "hit man" to take
for him to be beatified, and tion wrote in its biography. quarter-century papacy, that considers the weak, care of a problem.q