Protecting children: France mulls introducing consent age as sex abuse claims pile up

The debate over consent has been given fresh impetus by a case before France's top appeal court involving a woman who claims she was raped by over 20 firefighters between 2008 and 2010, when she was aged 13-15. Photo: AFP

The French government has backed the introduction of a minimum age of sexual consent of 15, a move that would bring it in line with most other Western countries, following years of campaigning by abuse victims.

The push for a change in the law follows a string of rape cases taken against adults over their relations with minors, many of which have foundered on the absence of a law banning sex between adults and children.