UN Experts Warn Children Reporting Sexual Abuse in France Still Face Risks in Court

The experts stressed that children’s best interests must remain the primary consideration in every administrative and judicial decision involving credible allegations of sexual abuse.

Children who report sexual violence in France may still face serious gaps in protection during criminal investigations and court proceedings, according to UN experts who raised concerns about the experiences of alleged victims and parents seeking to keep them safe. The experts welcomed legal and institutional reforms introduced since 2025, saying the information they received suggests those changes have not consistently translated into protection in practice. Their concerns include reports of children remaining subject to contact arrangements with an allegedly abusive parent and mothers facing legal consequences after refusing to hand over a child because of suspected danger.

Reporting abuse may not bring immediate protection

Some children who have disclosed sexual violence allegedly committed by their father reportedly remain subject to visitation and residence arrangements during ongoing investigations or judicial proceedings. The experts expressed concern about allegations that immediate protective measures were missing in certain cases, leaving children's safety unresolved after abuse had been reported. Mothers described as protective may face prosecution for failing to surrender a child for visitation, criminal penalties, restrictions on parental authority or child-protection measures directed against them. These reports raise difficult questions about how authorities assess danger and respond when a parent's efforts to protect a child conflict with existing court arrangements.

The experts stressed that children's best interests must remain the primary consideration in every administrative and judicial decision involving credible allegations of sexual abuse. Reported obstacles to filing complaints add another concern, because difficulties at this first stage can delay the opening of investigations and the introduction of protective measures. For a child disclosing abuse and a parent seeking help, access to a complaints process is closely tied to the possibility of receiving timely protection, making delays a matter of safety as well as access to justice.

Reforms have changed the framework for handling abuse

France has extended the mandate of the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children until October 2026 and adopted measures to improve the handling of violence reports within the education sector. A law dated 6 November 2025 incorporated the concept of consent into the criminal definition of rape and sexual assault, forming part of the reforms acknowledged by the experts. A parliamentary inquiry commission established at the beginning of 2026 is examining incest-related violence and the situation of protective parents, and a proposed law to strengthen provisional and emergency child-protection mechanisms is under consideration. The experts recognised these developments as efforts to improve the response to sexual violence against children, with continuing reports of protection failures drawing attention to how the measures operate in individual cases.

Children and protective parents need safe access to justice

The experts recalled that states have a duty to take effective action to prevent, investigate and punish violence against women and children, and to provide redress, including when abuse occurs within a family. That responsibility includes creating mechanisms through which victims and people reporting violence can seek protection and justice without fear of retaliation. Their message places children's safety and the treatment of those raising concerns at the centre of the response, alongside the legal reforms already undertaken. The experts have contacted the French Government about the allegations and said they will continue to monitor the issue closely.