Child sexual abuse: protect children, listen to victims and severely punish predators!

For a long time, this silence was interpreted as a lack of credibility or even as a reason for suspicion. Yet the considerable advances made in psychiatry, neuroscience and psychotraumatology now demonstrate a completely different reality: silence is often a direct consequence of the trauma itself.

Belgium has already taken an important step by abolishing, in 2019, the statute of limitations for the most serious sexual offences committed against minors. This decision represents a major breakthrough for victims. However, it must only be the beginning. It is now essential to adapt our entire judicial system to the latest scientific knowledge while considerably strengthening the protection of children and the severity of sanctions imposed on their abusers.

When the Brain Protects the Child... at the Cost of Silence

Sexual violence committed against a child causes injuries that go far beyond immediate psychological suffering. It can profoundly alter the functioning of the brain.

For several decades, scientific research has described a phenomenon known as traumatic amnesia. When confronted with unbearable violence, the brain activates survival mechanisms, particularly psychological dissociation. Memories do not necessarily disappear, but they may become temporarily inaccessible to consciousness before resurfacing, sometimes several decades later.

French psychiatrist Muriel Salmona, a recognized specialist in psychological trauma, explains that traumatic memory constitutes a genuine neurobiological protection mechanism allowing the victim to survive psychologically when the unbearable becomes impossible to face.

The work of American psychologist Linda M. Williams, together with the conclusions of the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (CIIVISE), also confirms that many victims are only able to disclose the abuse once they reach adulthood.

These observations obviously do not mean that every recovered memory is automatically accurate in every detail. They do, however, clearly demonstrate that decades of silence are fully consistent with current medical knowledge and cannot, by themselves, discredit a victim's testimony.

Belgium Has Led the Way... But Much Work Still Remains

By adopting the law of 14 November 2019 abolishing the statute of limitations for serious sexual offences committed against minors, Belgium became one of the first European countries to officially recognize this reality.

The legislature thus acknowledged that a child who has been sexually abused does not freely choose when he or she will finally be able to speak. Belgium's Constitutional Court subsequently confirmed this reform, ruling that it fully complied with the fundamental principles of the rule of law.

This development represents an important victory for all victims.

However, legislative reform alone is not enough if mentalities and professional practices do not evolve as well.

Science Must Now Fully Enter Our Courtrooms

Even today, many victims continue to face a question that arises far too often:

"Why did you wait thirty years before speaking?"

Science now provides a clear answer: because the trauma itself may prevent the victim from speaking.

This reality remains insufficiently understood by many professionals involved in these cases.

Police officers, judges, forensic experts, doctors, psychologists, social workers and frontline professionals should all receive comprehensive training on the mechanisms of dissociation, coercive control and traumatic memory.

Understanding these phenomena obviously does not mean abandoning the fundamental principles of justice, including the presumption of innocence, adversarial proceedings or the requirement for sufficient evidence. It simply means that cases should be assessed in light of current scientific knowledge rather than outdated misconceptions.

For the Révolution Movement, Protecting Children Must Become a National Priority

A society is judged by the way it protects its children.

For far too long, victims have had to face not only their abuser, but also misunderstanding, doubt, judicial delays and sometimes even the feeling that they were being questioned more than the person who had destroyed their lives.

This situation is no longer acceptable.

The fight against child sexual abuse cannot be limited to a few technical reforms. It must become a genuine national priority.

Children have no means of defending themselves against a sexual predator. It is therefore the responsibility of society as a whole to protect them.

The Proposals of the Révolution Movement

The Révolution Movement advocates a policy of zero tolerance towards perpetrators of sexual violence committed against minors.

We fully support the principle that serious sexual offences committed against children should never be subject to a statute of limitations.

But we want to go much further.

In particular, we propose:

• making specialised training in psychological trauma mandatory for judges, police officers, forensic experts and all frontline professionals;
• fully integrating current scientific knowledge regarding traumatic memory into the assessment of judicial cases;
• significantly strengthening psychological support for victims before, during and after legal proceedings;
• further developing the Sexual Violence Care Centres (SVCCs) so that every victim can quickly benefit from specialised support;
• providing greater support for scientific research into the consequences of childhood sexual abuse.

Because protecting victims also means preventing reoffending, we also advocate much tougher criminal sanctions.

The Révolution Movement therefore proposes:

• the creation of a public sex offender registry, enabling citizens to know the identity of individuals convicted of serious sexual offences in order to better protect their children;
• mandatory irreducible prison sentences for those convicted of raping minors;
• life imprisonment without the possibility of release for perpetrators of sexually motivated child murders;
• the possibility of using chemical castration, within the legal framework, whenever it constitutes an additional means of effectively preventing recidivism.

We refuse to accept a system in which the rights of sexual predators are systematically better protected than those of children.

A truly civilized society must place the protection of innocent children above the comfort of those who have destroyed their lives.

Believing Science, Listening to Victims, Protecting Children

For far too long, victims have been made to feel that their silence made them appear suspicious.

Today, medicine, psychiatry and neuroscience demonstrate exactly the opposite.

Silence can be one of the direct consequences of trauma.

It is now the responsibility of our justice system to fully integrate this scientific reality.

But it is also the responsibility of political leaders to have the courage to acknowledge that certain crimes deserve an exceptional response.

Sexual violence committed against children is not an ordinary offence. It destroys lives, devastates families and sometimes affects several generations.

This is why the Révolution Movement refuses any form of leniency towards sexual predators.

We want a justice system that protects children first.

We want a justice system that genuinely listens to victims.

We want a justice system that punishes criminals in proportion to the gravity of their crimes.

Because a society that is no longer capable of protecting its children is a society that has renounced its future.

And because behind every criminal case lies a child whose innocence was stolen.

It is our duty to ensure that no victim is forgotten, that no sexual predator benefits from the slightest indulgence, and that the silence imposed by trauma can never again be used as an argument against those who finally find the strength to say:

"This is what happened to me."