The European Supreme Court supports a woman whose husband got a divorce because she stopped having sex with him

On Thursday, Europe’s highest human rights court issued a ruling in favor of a 69-year-old French woman whose husband obtained a divorce on the grounds that she had stopped having sex with him.

The European Court of Human Rights has condemned France, saying that a woman who refuses to have sex with her husband should not be considered by the courts to be “at fault” in the event of a divorce.

The court is based in Strasbourg He said France had violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, relating to the right to respect for private and family life.

She said that any concept of marital duties must take into account “consent” as the basis for sexual relations.

“In the court’s view, consent to marriage cannot imply consent to future sexual relations,” the court said in its ruling. press release. “Such an interpretation would be tantamount to denying that marital rape is inherently reprehensible. On the contrary, consent must reflect the free desire to engage in sexual relations at a given moment and in specific circumstances.”

The ruling came from a panel of seven judges from seven different countries: Spain, France, Armenia, Monaco, San Marino, the Czech Republic and Ukraine.

The mother of four, who asked to remain anonymous, praised the ruling.

“I hope that this decision marks a turning point in the struggle for women’s rights in France,” she said in a statement. “This victory is for all women who, like me, find themselves facing perverse and unfair court rulings that call into question their physical integrity and right to privacy.”

The ruling comes as French society debates the concept of consent.

Women’s rights advocates said the concept of “consent” should be added to French law that defines rape.

The court said that the woman did not complain about the divorce she requested either, but rather about the reasons she relied on to grant him the divorce.

“Marriage is no longer sexual slavery.”

The court identified her only as HW, saying she lived in Le Chesny in the western suburbs of Paris.

“The Court concluded that the mere existence of such a marital commitment is incompatible with sexual freedom and the right to bodily autonomy.” statement From the court he said.

The statement added, “Any act of a non-consensual sexual nature constitutes a form of sexual violence.”

The Strasbourg-based court said the French courts had not achieved “a fair balance between the competing interests at stake.”

The court concluded that “the plaintiff’s husband could have filed for divorce, considering the irreparable breakdown of the marriage as the primary reason, and not, as he did, as an alternative reason.”

The woman and JC married in 1984 and had four children, including a disabled daughter who needed the constant presence of a parent, a role filled by her mother.

Relations between husband and wife deteriorated when their first child was born. The woman began experiencing health problems in 1992.

The court said that in 2002, her husband began physically and verbally abusing her.

In 2004, she stopped having sex with him and in 2012 she filed for divorce.

In 2019, the Versailles Court of Appeal rejected the woman’s complaints and sided with her husband, while the Court of Cassation rejected an appeal without giving specific reasons.

It resorted to the European Court of Human Rights, which acts as a court of first instance where all domestic legal avenues are exhausted, in 2021.

“It was impossible for me to accept it and leave it at that,” the woman said.

She said: “The Court of Appeal decision that convicted me was unbecoming of a civilized society because it deprived me of the right not to consent to sexual relations, and deprived me of my freedom to make decisions regarding my body.”

“It reinforced the right of my husband and all husbands to impose their will.”

Her case was supported by two rights groups, the Fondation des Femmes (Women’s Foundation) and the Collectif Feministe Contre Le Viol (Feminist Collective Against Rape).

Emmanuelle Pitt, president of the Feminist Collective Against Rape, praised the court’s decision.

“Mrs. W spent fifteen years fighting this battle, and it ended in victory, bravo.” He told Reuters news agency. “When you are forced to have sexual relations within marriage, that is rape.”

They said that while the French criminal judiciary abolished marital duty in 1990, “civil judges continue to impose it through an outdated vision of marriage.”

“From now on, marriage is no longer sexual slavery,” said Delphine Zughaibi, a member of the Women’s Defense Team. “This decision is even more important given that nearly one in every two cases of rape is committed by a spouse or partner.”

The European Court of Human Rights is part of the European Human Rights Council, which has 46 members. It applies the European Convention on Human Rights and its provisions are legally binding and not advisory.