2023-12-12 17:20:00
A year and a half following Balance Ton Bar, the Brussels nightlife is still taking shape in the face of sexual violence
“The CPVS staff are well trained to welcome the words of victims but it is necessary to make these support systems more widely known. Significant work must also be done to train staff in police stations,” explains the founder of the Instagram page with more than 33,000 people.
Only one rapist in a hundred is brought to justice
She points out the lack of judicial follow-up and the resulting impunity for the attackers. “On a judicial level, we cannot move forward in a system that protects rapists to this extent. In Belgium, we have a conviction rate of one percent. So one rape case in a hundred will result in an effective conviction of the perpetrator. It is not possible. We can put as many measures in place as we want, it makes no sense if it does not translate into justice.”
Since the creation of the Instagram page, the El Café bar in the Ixelles cemetery, the very first to be pinned, has been closed. “We see that it is often the same establishments that are singled out, with problematic servers still operating behind the bars. Strong and restrictive measures must be taken by public authorities. As with the authorization to sell alcohol, it would be necessary to have an authorization issued to open a bar provided that everything is put in place to ensure the safety of customers,” adds Maité Meeûs.
A leaver from El Café in Ixelles receives 50 months in prison for rape
In fact, only one leaver from El Café was sentenced to 50 months in prison for the rape of a customer. The facts took place in the toilets of the establishment in March 2019. Due to the “extreme seriousness of the facts”, the personality of the accused and his “total absence of questioning”, the court refused to grant him a reprieve “which would maintain his feeling of impunity”.
“I took a moment of respite but the messages continue to flow in without me systematically publishing them”
After a one-year break, Balance ton bar resumed its activities at the end of November. “I contribute to this page on a voluntary basis. It’s quite heavy for me to be confronted with so many stories and I feared activist burnout. So I took a moment of respite but the messages continue to flow in without me systematically publishing them. I try to guide victims as best as possible, to redirect them towards CPVS, psychologists, specialized lawyers because many victims consider me as an emergency call line,” concludes Maité Meeûs, whose Balance ton initiative bar was exported to Liège, but also to France, Spain, Tunisia, Switzerland and Canada.
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