The European Court of Human Rights condemned France this Thursday January 23 for having judged, as part of divorce proceedings, that a woman was at fault by refusing to have sexual relations with her husband. The Court hopes that its decision “will mark a turning point in the fight for women's rights in France” and will abolish the “archaic vision of the family”.
A woman who refuses sexual relations to her husband must not be considered by the courts as “at fault” in the event of divorce, ruled this Thursday, January 23, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which condemned the France.
The Court ruled in favor of the applicant, a 69-year-old French woman whose husband had obtained a divorce solely at the fault of his wife, on the grounds that she had stopped having sexual relations with him for several years.
“I hope that this decision will mark a turning point in the fight for women’s rights in France,” she reacted in a press release sent by one of her two lawyers, Lilia Mhissen.
“This decision marks the abolition of marital duty and the archaic and canonical vision of the family,” also welcomed Me Lilia Mhissen.
France's decision “contrary to sexual freedom and the right to dispose of one's body”
The Court, which sits in Strasbourg, condemned France for violating Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, relating to the right to respect for private and family life. In its judgment, the ECHR recalls that “any non-consensual sexual act constitutes a form of sexual violence”.
Noting that the refusal to submit to marital duty can, under the conditions provided for in Article 242 of the Civil Code, be considered as a fault justifying the pronouncement of divorce, the Court emphasizes that “the very existence of such an obligation matrimonial marriage is contrary both to sexual freedom and the right to dispose of one's body and to the positive obligation of prevention which weighs on the Contracting States in the fight against domestic and sexual violence.
“The Court cannot accept, as the government suggests, that consent to marriage implies consent to future sexual relations. Such a justification would be likely to remove the reprehensible nature of marital rape,” insists the ECHR.
-“Marriage is no longer sexual servitude”
The applicant, who wishes to remain anonymous, requested divorce in 2012. In July 2018, the family affairs judge of the Versailles high court ruled that the divorce could not be granted for fault and that the problems of health of the wife were likely to justify the lasting absence of sexuality within the couple.
But in 2019, the Versailles Court of Appeal pronounced the divorce solely due to the wife's fault, recognizing as a “fault” her refusal of “intimate relations with her husband”. The applicant filed an appeal, which was rejected. The wife contacted the ECHR in 2021, supported by the Feminist Collective against Rape (CFCV) and the Women's Foundation.
“It was impossible for me to accept it and leave it there,” she explained this Thursday in a press release.
“The decision of the Court of Appeal condemning me was and is unworthy of a civilized society because it denied me the right not to consent to sexual relations, depriving me of my freedom to decide about my body. It reassured my husband and all spouses in 'a right to impose their will'”.
Rejoicing at the ECHR's decision, the sixty-year-old mother of four children said that “this victory is for all women who, like me, find themselves confronted with aberrant and unjust judicial decisions, calling into question their bodily integrity and their right to privacy.
One of his lawyers, Delphine Zoughebi, affirmed that “from now on, marriage is no longer sexual servitude. This decision is all the more fundamental as nearly one in two rapes is committed by the spouse or partner.” .
