Sexual violence in extracurriculars: Anne Hidalgo evokes a “collective failure” before the Senate

“Our institutions have failed” in the protection of children, said Tuesday, September 15, the former socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, before the senatorial commission of inquiry into sexual violence in extracurriculars, referring to a “collective failure”. “If we are here before you today, it is because our institutions, Paris town hall, local authorities, national education, police, justice, despite the actions taken and despite the real awareness of the sexual abuse of which our children are victims in our country, have failed in the protection of our children,” declared Anne Hidalgo, who led the capital for twelve years.

The former mayor, targeted like her successor Emmanuel Grégoire by criminal investigations following complaints from several families, in particular for failure to assist a person in danger, pleaded "to have been keen to put in place" processes from 2015 to 2026. "Despite all this, there are still predators who registered and who attacked our children", added Ms Hidalgo, without recognizing a systemic problem within extracurricular activities as asked by the rapporteur of the committee, senator LR Agnès Evren.

Anne Hidalgo deplores a “non-compliance” with the “instructions” she had given

According to the ex-mayor, the reports were “not made satisfactorily” within his administration from the first cases, ten years ago. “There were dysfunctions, information channels which did not work,” she said, regretting that half of the recommendations of the report of the General Inspectorate of the City of Paris in 2015, which she had commissioned, were not implemented satisfactorily due to a “non-compliance” with “instructions” which she had given. “The doctrine that I asked to apply and which was not applied to the end, was an immediate suspension of the agent for whom a report was made”, and that the facilitator in question cannot be “put back in contact with children”.

The senatorial commission of inquiry into the prevention and treatment of violence in extracurriculars in France was due to hear Patrick Bloche, Anne Hidalgo's first deputy from 2024 to 2026, also in charge of school affairs, at the end of the morning. Wednesday will be the turn of the new PS mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire, deputy at City Hall for ten years, including six as first deputy, before joining the National Assembly in 2024.