In a new law that has resulted from a debate among French lawmakers, the Washington Post reports, the age of consent in France will now be set at 15.
The announcement comes from Equality Minister Marlène Schiappa, who says that France’s government “has decided to set the age at 15” after public outcry against two cases involving sex with 11-year-old girls, according to CNN.
In both cases, a 30-year-old man and a 28-year-old man avoided rape charges as prosecutors couldn’t prove that the 11-year-old girls were forced to have sex. The case involving the 30-year-old highlighted the main issue with previous laws, as a French court concluded that the girl had not experienced “constraint, threat, violence or surprise,” France’s previous definition of rape according to the Post.
The (painfully obvious) issue? CNN says that current laws would only criminalize sexual acts with children under 15 if prosecutors could prove that the sex was forced.
So, under this proposal, the law “will set the age at which a person cannot agree to any sexual intercourse at 15 and will criminalize any sexual activity with any minor younger than that age,” according to CNN. This means that regardless of what was said by the minor 15 or younger, they are unable to provide consent and any sexual act performed by an adult will be classified as rape.
“We want to fix an age in the law below which it’s always forbidden to have sex with children, with young girls. Below which it’s always considered as a rape,” Schiappa said in an interview in 2017, CNN reports.
The new law will be presented on March 21.