Paris ex-mayor says 'collective failure' led to abuse of children in school care

Former Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Tuesday "collective failure" at institutions had opened the door to a wave of child abuse at state nurseries and primary schools in the ‌French capital over more than a decade.

Police have been examining more ⁠than 200 allegations of mistreatment, violence and sexual abuse of young children during lunch breaks, rest periods and after-school activities.

Hidalgo told a Senate ‌hearing the number of victims was unacceptable and that she understood the sense of ⁠abandonment amongst families.

'Institutions failed to protect our children'

"If we are standing before you here today, it is because our institutions... despite the actions taken and despite a genuine awareness of the sexual abuse suffered by our children in this country, have failed ‌to protect our children. And this is a collective failure," she told senators.

The first allegations of abuse surfaced in 2014. A year later, the Paris General Inspectorate, an inter-departmental supervisory body, published a report warning of ‌the risk of such offences being committed by city employees against minors.

Parents groups say their concerns about abuse fell on deaf ears in City Hall for years. Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau told France Inter radio last week she has opened investigations into Hidalgo and current mayor Emmanuel Grégoire over their alleged failures to assist a person in danger of abuse.

On Tuesday afternoon a Paris court sentenced a former after-school activity supervisor to five years in prison with four years suspended.

The offender had admitted sexually assaulting nine girls aged six to 10 at a Paris elementary school.

Senator Agnès Evren, who led the Senate's hearing, listed shortcomings in City Hall's actions detailed in the Inspectorate's report, including a four-year pause in systematic reporting of complaints, and said the Inspectorate's recommendations had only been partially implemented.

Parents' collective SOS Periscolaire expressed disappointment at Hidalgo's answers, which it said failed to deliver facts.

"We are unfortunately not surprised by these answers, which always point to the ⁠failures and responsibilities of others, but never her own," SOS Periscolaire said in a statement.

Barka Zerouali, the cofounder of a ⁠second parents' group, #MeTooEcole, told Reuters: "Once we drop our child off at school they are supposed to be safe, all the more so when we're talking about a public service."

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)