It all started with one photo posted on Twitter in March 2016.
Eight male French MPs, all senior leaders of their respective parties, put on red lipstick to condemn sexual violence against women. #MeToo wasn’t a thing just yet.
#mettezdurouge contre les violences faites aux femmes. Des députés s'engagent #8mars https://t.co/nN6PtOl22P pic.twitter.com/XGoVOKnzaY
— Denis_Baupin (@Denis_Baupin) March 8, 2016
Within hours of the photo being released, several women accused a senior green party MP, Denis Baupin (second from the left in the photo), of sexual misconduct. They couldn’t bear to see the discrepancy between public communication and private reality. He withdrew from public life a month later.
What Baupin and his accusers didn’t know at the time was that these revelations would show just how mismanaged sexual violence cases were in parties across the political spectrum and, fast forwarding to now, how urgently policy changes are needed.
We need policy we don’t know how to implement
Sexual harassment and predatory behaviour are tools for men to ascertain (and abuse) their power.
Yet, five years after the #MeToo movement was first revealed, hardly anything has changed in France. Just before the summer, Damien Abad, then minister for solidarity, was accused of rape by several women. His mandate was discontinued in July, after only a couple of months and despite his denials.
The latest sexual abuse scandals that have rocked French politics, both within Emmanuel Macron’s government and left-wing opposition parties, have shown just how crucial a policy response is – and how clueless we are about actually implementing it.
Too often, women in political parties do not have the necessary space to speak out about their traumas or to warn others of male misconduct.
Creating dedicated safe spaces (protection “units,” the French dubbed them) within political parties is an excellent first step. Their statutes and complete independence from political interference must be ensured – with clear channels to raise serious issues to party seniors and, when necessary, the police.
However, this isn’t enough.
Green Party leader Julien Bayou resigned after it was revealed his ex-partner had accused him of psychological violence, a criminal offence in France and an ex officio offence in many other EU states, although she did not file a criminal complaint.
Green MP Sandrine Rousseau revealed the accusations on TV after she said she had met the woman who was very depressed and had tried to commit suicide shortly after.
Bayou in turn accused his ex of harbouring resentment against him, and while he admitted it was a “painful and difficult breakup”, he denied any abuse.
Turning to the media out of anger and exhaustion against a patriarchal system when women feel no other institution is on their side is more than understandable.
But it also shows a big weakness in the system where women feel they cannot trust the police or the judicial system. These systems need to be reinforced to bolster ex officio offences, ensure prosecutions, and follow through with convictions when someone is found guilty.
Training on seeing and calling out sexual misconduct and abuse amongst colleagues and peers is also badly needed across the board.
MPs and their advisors, political leaders and mere sympathisers must undergo such training, and have them repeated – a one-off isn’t enough. This is even more crucial since power plays and personality cults within political parties artificially raise the threshold after which it is ‘ok’ to speak out.
Protection “hubs” must be reinforced to ensure both independence and fair access for victims to psychological and legal support. Where such hubs don’t exist, an independent third-party institution that handles sexual violence complaints must be created.
The French High Commission for Equality suggested giving this new institution investigative powers over new parliamentarians’ past.
And here is when money comes in: The issue of sexual violence is underfunded, and French feminists’ plea for €1 billion in funding for sexual violence services is the bare minimum. These services also need more staff and higher wages to help increase reach.
Money must also flow into the justice system to have the necessary means, such as dedicated courts or free psychological support, to make women trust that they can file a complaint and be taken seriously by the system.
But most importantly, more so than any hub, budget, or reform, we need to eradicate the toxic culture that sees women as sexual objects or lesser beings that can be intimidated and denigrated. Furthermore, these men need to know there will be consequences for their actions, including criminal cases and complete ostracisation from the political sphere, for life.
This is a matter of political integrity and, more often than we think, life or death. We owe it to the #metoo movement.
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The Roundup
EU lawmakers held their first political debate on the AI Act on Wednesday (6 October) as the discussion moved to more sensitive topics like the highly debated issue of biometric recognition.
Chinese companies are concerned about the impact of the EU’s directive on corporate sustainability on their business operations and called for a revision of the proposed rules that are partly targeted at tackling human rights abuses in China.
Despite EU efforts to ramp up cereal production by relaxing environmental rules, the area under cereal production has dropped below the five-year average, and production is expected to decrease significantly, according to the European Commission.
Trust in the European Union is “clearly progressing” among the French, though many, particularly in the right-wing camp, still want Paris to have more power than the EU, a major opinion poll has found.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament voted on a resolution to tackle energy prices on Wednesday, including the relaunch of the MidCat pipeline linking Spain with France, despite opposition from French MEPs.
A Russian missile demolished an apartment block on Thursday in a Ukrainian region that Moscow says it has annexed, killing at least one woman, as the Ukrainian military forged ahead with its drive to recapture land in the south and east.
In an exclusive interview, France’s Solidarity Minister Jean-Christophe Combe spoke to EURACTIV about the European social emergency, including social benefits, disability, the war in Ukraine, and the European minimum income.
And in response to the Nord Stream pipeline leaks, the European Commission pledged to increase protection of undersea internet cables via a five-point plan to improve critical infrastructure.
The European Commission will put forward a communication on fertilisers as part of efforts to tackle the disruption caused by the Ukraine war, but this still falls short of the EU-wide fertilisers strategy that stakeholders have been calling for.
Malta’s government must take steps to protect media freedom and step up investigative efforts into the 2017 assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Council of Europe stated.
The UN rights council rejected a Western-led motion to hold a debate about alleged human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region after a UN report found possible crimes against humanity.
Last but not least, don’t forget to check out this week’s Economy Brief: A €200 billion straw to break the camel’s back?
Look out for…
- An informal meeting of the European Council to discuss energy, economy, and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
- A Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy conference on implementing Green Deal on regional and local level and in times of crisis.
Views are the author’s.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
