2023-10-16 19:24:48
“Un silence si bois”, the documentary by Emmanuelle Béart and Anastasia Mikova, shined the spotlight on incest. Two years following the hashtag #MeTooInceste, a special commission was created in France. But in Switzerland, there are few specialized structures, even though incest affects one in ten children.
Three years ago, Heidi Duperrex looked for a support group to talk regarding the incest she suffered for eight years. This was before filing a complaint and before even daring to confide in his family. But in 2021, there were no such groups in Freiburg. And since then, the canton’s only specialized center for victims of sexual abuse has closed its doors.
“It reinforced my feeling of loneliness. Of shame too. I was told that my story was serious, I knew that other people had experienced the same thing, so how come groups like this didn’t exist? Why hadn’t anyone created them?”, she regrets Monday in the 7:30 p.m. of the RTS.
No report in Switzerland
Two years ago, Camille Kouchner’s book “La Familia grande” and the hashtag #MeTooInceste burst onto the public scene. In France, a special commission was created immediately, the CIIVISE, and a toll-free number opened.
In Switzerland, there are no reports or studies on the extent of incest. The only data available are offenses reported to the police: sexual abuse of minors committed by a family member. Since 2018, there have been between 340 and 350 complaints per year. A figure well below reality. One in ten children are in fact victims of incest, according to survey made in France. According to specialists, the incidence is similar in Switzerland.
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“Very complicated for victims to talk regarding it”
In Geneva, the vice squad tries to adapt to the needs of the victims. A reception room was created two years ago. Mathieu Menuz, head of the vice squad, talks regarding his experience on the 7:30 p.m. microphone.
We train staff to receive victims, to be able to ask questions, to show empathy
Mathieu Menuz, head of the vice squad in Geneva
“From the moment we enter this intimate sphere, even without it being focused on incest, it becomes very complicated for the victims to talk regarding it. That’s why we train the staff to receive the victims, to be able to ask questions, to show empathy. We really try to have this fiber and to be able to support people as best as possible.”
>> Read also: In Switzerland, the difficulty of speaking out for victims of incest
Long legal proceedings
But criminal procedures are long, difficult and rarely result in convictions.
“There are a lot of disappointed hopes,” says Camille Perrier Depeursinge, professor of criminal law at the University of Lausanne (UNIL). “We expect the justice system to take up the matter, to arrest the criminals, to punish them. In reality, the victim waits a lot, she is summoned several times to tell her story and as there is little material evidence, very few convictions are handed down,” she explains.
As there is little physical evidence, very few convictions are handed down
Camille Perrier Depeursinge, professor of criminal law at the University of Lausanne
Camille Perrier Depeursinge also offers processes of justice restaurative to victims, a more victim-centered procedure which is developing in Switzerland.
Difficulty finding therapists
It is not necessary to have filed a complaint to go to a LAVI center (acronym for the “Law on assistance to victims of crime”). These structures offer advice, lawyers and therapeutic aid free and anonymously, but they have few resources.
In Fribourg, the LAVI center has fewer than four full-time equivalents. And it’s hard to find therapists. “The waiting time is very long, especially among psychotherapists,” laments Manon Duffour, director of the LAVI center in Fribourg. “We are lucky to have a psychologist, but she works part-time and therefore cannot be available to everyone.”
>> Read also: “Thanks to LAVI, I was able to launch legal action”, testifies the victim of an incestuous rape
“We don’t want to see too much”
In Geneva, there is a center dedicated to sexual abuse, the CTAS (Therapeutic Center: Trauma – Sexual Assault). But its director Carmen del Fresno spends a good part of her time looking for funds.
“The care we offer must be financed by the LAMal,” she explains, “but victims frequently cancel their appointments, because this process is tiring. We cannot systematically replace canceled appointments and we should be able to take this into account.
Incest appears to be something exceptional, but that is not the case
Carmen del Fresno, director of the Therapeutic Center: Trauma – Sexual Assault
“It is difficult to raise awareness of the seriousness of incest and its consequences on the lives of victims. It is a little trivialized, incest appears to be something exceptional, but it is not the case,” she adds.
In Fribourg, Heidi Duperrex’s attacker was sentenced to 12 years in prison. She created a support group called Love Fati, which she runs voluntarily with a nurse friend. She receives more and more requests.
>> Read also: “Incest is one of the most difficult forms of violence to combat”, believes Manon Schick
TV subject: Julie Conti
Adaptation web: Julien Furrer
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#tragedy #incest #reality #Switzerland #rts.ch
