3 Raped Women per Hour: France Is Not the Free-Speech Champion

In recent weeks, accusations of sexual assault have increased in France. Harassment and rape have become almost daily news in the French media. There is a new complaint and a new resentment every day and every hour.

With 3 raped women every hour, it is really a dangerous situation in a “free diplomatic country.”

However, instead of listening carefully to these accusations and taking things seriously, women are rather ashamed when their cases face neglect and even rejection from French Police.

In light of these events, voices are rising in French society, which accuse the authorities of negligence.

 

Three Women Are Raped Every Hour

Instead of receiving all kinds of support, raped women were surprised by the neglect and the security failure of the French authorities. They were even subjected to abuse by the police. Accordingly, many of them hesitated before heading to the police station to report any complaint.

According to official reports published by the French Ministry of the Interior, months ago, the number of reported rapes in 2020 amounted to about 11%, which is equivalent to approximately three women being raped every hour, or a woman every seven minutes, according to French magazine Mademoiselle.

In fact, women hesitate to go to the police station, they are even ashamed of the sexual assault they were subjected to because some of them were insulted by the police during their testimony, so that they felt guilty.

In 2019, a program was launched to qualify security personnel in dealing with cases of sexual violence and abuse, but there was no improvement in their performance.

Accordingly, more than 100 lawyers called on the French government to provide at least a lawyer or to allow women to accompany a lawyer to police stations while reporting rape incidents. This is to protect them from persecution and moral abuse.

 

Islamophobic Attacks

This is happening in a country that is known for freedom, and also known for its hatred of Islam which guarantees women freedom and dignity that France allegedly protects.

In the name of human rights and social equality, the successive French governments have oppressed Muslims living in France who represent 6 million people. Hundreds of examples have shown the French enmity towards Islam and Muslims.

The veil, and where it can be worn, has become one of the most fraught questions in public life. The French often see criticizing its use as a means of liberating their fellow citizens from religious oppression. However, this is far away from what it is meant. A law enacted in 2004 prohibits the veil from being worn in universities.

When Muslim women wear the veil in public, they often come under fire, even when they do so legally, and even when they attempt to be part of French society.

The scourge of far-right extremism, which has targeted Muslims in particular, has increased in Europe, and recent reports show that France suffers most from this atmosphere of hatred, according to the Washington Post Website.

Muslims in France are worried about the wrong meanings taken by the French society about Islam, and they are concerned also about the negative views some members of the French public have about this religion.

Muslims in European societies always try to prove that there is no connection between Islam and terrorism. In this sense, Muslims in France insist on practicing their religion freely like all the members of the other religions.

Introducing a bill on the fight against separatism, Prime Minister Jean Castex stressed that it “is not a text against religions or against the Muslim religion in particular.” He asserted that it is “a bill of freedom, a bill of protection, a bill of emancipation from Islamist fundamentalism” or other ideologies pursuing the same goals of terrorism.”

 

Not the Free-speech Champion

The horrific murder of Samuel Paty, the French teacher who showed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a class on freedom of expression, sent shockwaves in France. It also leads to a difficult conversation about freedom of speech and who has the right to exercise it. Like other incidents, this event revealed the real image of France and proved that it is not a country of freedom and human rights.

“President Emmanuel Macron and his government responded to the killing by proclaiming their support for freedom of expression. But they have also doubled down on their perpetual smear campaign against French Muslims and launched their own attack on freedom of expression. Last week, for example, French police interviewed four 10-year-old children for hours on suspicion of ‘apology of terrorism’ they apparently questioned Paty’s choice to show the cartoons,” according to Amnesty International.

France is not the champion of free speech that everyone thinks. In 2019, a court convicted two men for “contempt” after they burnt an effigy depicting President Macron during a peaceful protest. Actually, Parliament is currently discussing a new law that finds everyone guilty when using images of law enforcement officials on social media. It is hard to link this with the French authorities’ strong defense of the right to portray the Prophet Mohammed in cartoons.

Actually, France is a fake free-speech country. Indeed, it does not guarantee the right to freedom of expression which also protects the ability to criticize the choice to characterize religions in ways that may be perceived as stereotypical or offensive. Being opposed to the cartoons does not make one a “separatist,” a bigot or an “Islamist,” according to Amnesty International.