A woman who refuses sex to her husband should not be considered by justice as “faulty” in the event of divorce, decided the European Court of Human Rights which condemned France.
A woman who refuses sex to her husband should not be considered by justice as “False” In the event of divorce, decided the European Court of Human Rights which condemned France on Thursday, January 23. The Court agreed to the applicant, a 69 -year -old Frenchwoman whose husband had obtained the divorce from his wife’s exclusive wrongs on the grounds that she had ceased to have sex with him for several years.
In its judgment, the court that sits in Strasbourg recalls that “Any non -consented sexual act constitutes a form of sexual violence”. “The Court cannot admit, as the government suggests, that consent to marriage takes consent to future sexual relations. Such justification would be likely to remove its reprehensible character from the marital rape ”indicates the ECHR. “I hope this decision will mark a turning point in the fight for women’s rights in France”reacted the applicant in a press release sent by her lawyer Lilia Mhissen.
“Archaic and canonical vision”
In July 2018, the family court judge of the Versailles tribunal de grande instance had considered that the divorce could not be pronounced for fault and that the health problems of the wife were likely to justify the sustainable absence of sexuality in breast of the couple. But in 2019, the Versailles Court of Appeal had pronounced the divorce to the exclusive wrongs of the wife holding as a “mistake” his refusal of “Intimate relations with her husband”. The applicant had made a cassation appeal, which had been rejected.
The wife then seized the ECHR in 2021, arguing article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, relating to the right to respect for private and family life. “This decision marks the abolition of conjugal duty and the archaic and canonical vision (in accordance with the rules of the Catholic Church, editor’s note) of the family”praised Me Mhissen for his part.
“Bed community”
Noting that the refusal to submit to “Conjugal duty” can be considered as a fault justifying the pronouncement of the divorce, the European jurisdiction considers that “The very existence of such a matrimonial obligation is both contrary to sexual freedom and the right to have its body and the positive prevention obligation which weighs on the contracting states in matters of the fight against domestic violence and sexual “.
For Emmanuelle Piet, of the feminist collective against rape (CFCV) who supported the applicant, “France must act that the European Court of Human Rights considers that marriage does not imply an obligation of sexual relations between spouses and therefore that articles 215 and 212 of the Civil Code are modified”.
-Article 215 of the Civil Code provides that “The spouses oblige each other to a community of life” and article 212 that “The spouses must mutually respect, loyalty, help, assistance”. For Delphine Zughebi, lawyer’s lawyer, “The decision of this day will impose itself on the French judges who can no longer consider that a community of life implies a bed community”.
“It was impossible for me to accept it and stop there”
Residing at Chesnay (Yvelines), the applicant, who wishes to keep anonymity, had asked for divorce in 2012. The applicant had made a cassation appeal, which had been rejected.
The wife had seized 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 stop there”she said in a statement on Thursday.
“The decision of the Court of Appeal condemning me was and is unworthy of a civilized society because it refused me the right not to consent to sexual relations, depriving me of my freedom to decide my body. She comforted my husband and all the spouses in +a right to impose their will +”.
Rejoicing the ECHR’s decision, the sixties, mother of four, said that “This victory is for all women who like me, find themselves faced with aberrant and unjust judicial decisions, calling into question their bodily integrity and their right to intimacy”.
Me Zughebi said that “From now on, marriage is no longer a sexual servitude. This decision is all the more fundamental since nearly rape in two is committed by the spouse or the partner ”.
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