PARIS : France repealed a
sexual harassment law on Friday on the grounds that the definition of the crime
was too vague, sparking renewed debate of an issue put into the spotlight by
the arrest of one-time presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn last year.
Some women's groups said the
decision, by France's highest constitutional body, would leave victims without
legal protection until a new law is penned, while others argued an improved law
could lead to more convictions.
Former International
Monetary Fund chief Strauss-Kahn (picture) was arrested last May, accused of
sexual assault by a hotel maid. The charges were later dropped but the ensuing
scandal cast a harsh light on a practice in France of hushing up or shrugging
off sexual advances by powerful figures. Feminists demanded a change of
attitude.
Strauss-Kahn had already
been rapped over a sexual relationship with a subordinate in 2008, who said she
felt pressured to sleep with him, and French writer Tristane Banon filed a
complaint after the New York case alleging he tried to assault her in 2003.
Junior civil service
minister Georges Tron was forced to resign in June after two women who had
worked for him filed sexual harassment complaints. One said the debate sparked
by the Strauss-Kahn scandal had prompted her to break her silence.
Friday's repeal of the law
should eventually lead to clearer guidelines for judges. But the fact the
measure goes into effect immediately means that all ongoing sexual harassment
cases not yet ruled on in court will be thrown out.
It could be months - if not
longer - before new legislation is adopted given that a new National Assembly,
which would write the new law, will only be elected in June, following Sunday's
presidential election runoff.
"Article 222-33 of the
penal code calls for the misdemeanour of sexual harassment to be punishable but
the component elements of the infraction are not sufficiently defined,"
the Constitutional Council wrote in its ruling.
A collective of more than a
dozen feminist groups said victims had been "abandoned by the justice
system".
"The message of
impunity aimed at harassers is revolting," they wrote in a statement.
However, the European
Association Against Violence Towards Women at Work, an advocacy group, had
argued to the council that the repealed law was ineffective, producing an
"insignificant" total of 54 convictions in 2009.
Friday's ruling came after
France's harassment law was contested for being too broad by a former deputy
mayor in the southern Rhone region who was sentenced last year to three months
in prison and a 5,000 euro ($6,600) fine for sexually harassing three
employees.
Social Cohesion Minister
Roselyne Bachelot said she would pressure the new parliament to act quickly to
fill the legal void.
And a spokesman for man
tipped to be France's next president wrote in a statement that: "Francois
Hollande, if elected, will commit to a new law on sexual harassment being
written up and registered as quickly as possible in the parliamentary
agenda."
The former law, in force
since 1992, originally defined an instigator of sexual harassment as someone
abusing his or her authority but it was modified in 2002 to broaden the
definition.
The new version states:
"The act of harassing others with the goal of obtaining sexual favours is
punishable by one year of imprisonment and 15,000 euros in fines."
Decisions of the
Constitutional Council, which rules on the constitutionality of French laws,
cannot be appealed. (Reuters)
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