Mazan Rape Trial: Scale Of Abuse And Violence Committed Must Serve As Wake-up Call, Says Expert

Geneva, 24 December 2024

The Mazan rape trial must serve as a wake-up call on the level of sexual violence being perpetrated against women and girls, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem said today.

On 19 December, Dominique Pelicot was convicted ofaggravated rape, for repeatedly drugging and raping his ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot over several years. He also facilitated her assault by others, filming and distributing footage of her repeated rape and sexual assault. The heinous abuse spanned over a decade and involved at least 72 other men, making it one of the most egregious cases of systemic abuse and exploitation. Fifty other men were convicted for involvement in the assaults.

“Ms. Pelicot has demonstrated extraordinary courage and resilience by deciding to go beyond her own shock and grief to forfeit her anonymity and allow proof of these horrific crimes to go public,” Alsalem said. “In doing so, she has single-handedly changed the conversation around rape and where responsibility for it lies.”

Alsalem said she joined Gisèle Pelicot in paying tribute to unacknowledged victims of similar crimes who continue to face immense structural barriers that have prevented them from stepping forward and obtaining justice.

“One of the most significant consequences of this trial is that it revealed the banality of rapists in our society. These are often men from all walks of life; ordinary men who have seemingly regular families, jobs and responsibilities,” the Special Rapporteur said.

It is concerning that despite the clear evidence, male perpetrators of violence against women choose to reject their responsibility in inflicting what can only be described as torture, inhumane and degrading treatment on women and seek to minimise the consequences of their actions, Alsalem said.

The trial has brought to the forefront again the harmful impact of the industry of pornography as well as digital technology and how they enable and accelerate commodification, abuse, and execution of male violence against women of all ages in real life to an epidemic level.

The trial has generally shown the need for definition of consent in individual, gang and mass rape, as well as the impossibility or irrelevance of consent in many cases related to sexual abuse and exploitation, she said.

The Special Rapporteur recalled that as some States move to consider amending their definition of rape to include the lack of true and meaningful consent, some 60 countriesworldwide have not even outlawed marital rape.

“The Mazan trial has also demonstrated increasing risks that women and girls face through new forms and tools of abuse to sexually violate and abuse them, such as drugging,” the expert said.

Alsalem called on States to adopt appropriate legislation to prohibit and prosecute such practices, effectively address digital technology-facilitated violence including pornography and do more to change pervasive sexist and misogynist stereotypes against women and girls.

Reem Alsalem is the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences.

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