June 8, 2026 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French
Following the horrific murder of 11-year-old Lyhanna [in France], marches and rallies are being held to support her family and loved ones, and to highlight the reality of violence against children.
160,000 children [in France] are victims of sexual violence every year. Eight out of ten victims are girls, and nearly all of the perpetrators are men: these acts are a manifestation of patriarchal violence.
The sordid and culpable exploitation by the right and the far right
Far from offering a systemic solution, the right and the far right respond, as always, with their rhetoric about the supposed “laxity” of the justice system.
Yet these politicians bear some of the responsibility when they support all the budget cuts to social services—precisely where victims can be heard and supported. They swear by private schools, where the number of child sexual abuse cases is countless. And they strongly oppose emotional and relational education classes in schools and sex education for adolescents… which are precisely what teach children to report problematic behavior.
The government and the police clearly have better things to do
Minister of Justice Darmanin—himself accused of rape—apologized on behalf of the government for the failures that led to Lyhanna’s death.
Prosecutors responded by reminding him that they had long warned him about delays in processing complaints, as their minister instructs them to prioritize drug trafficking cases. The police and the justice system are far quicker when it comes to holding immediate trials for young people from working-class neighborhoods on charges of petty theft… or summoning union members and activists who have criticized the government too harshly!
Drastic measures are taken when scandals break, but they are as ineffective as they are dramatic. Following the scandal of violence in after-school programs in Paris, the City Hall suspended 78 program leaders… 43 of whom were suspended for unrelated reasons. It does not address the real problems: understaffing in schools, where a single adult may find themselves supervising a group of children alone, when at least two are always needed; the hiring of temporary workers (10,000 out of the city’s 15,000 activity leaders) without training.
A matter of scale and substance
Left-wing politicians also say, in their own way, that the justice system lacks sufficient resources. But it is prevention that is underfunded first and foremost: punishment, for its part, does not prevent violence from occurring.
Many of the recommendations made in 2023 by the Independent Commission on Violence Against Children (CIIVISE) to better detect cases and support victims have been shelved. After decades of job cuts and funding reductions in public services, schools and educational institutions are short on psychologists and nurses who could listen to children’s accounts and raise the alarm; social services and shelters are overwhelmed with requests and cannot accommodate victims who urgently need to be removed from their abusers; psychiatric services are too depleted to support victims.
This society is incapable of preventing all forms of violence against children: in 2025, at least twenty-six homeless minors died on the streets, including fourteen under the age of 4, and at least five teenagers in internships or apprenticeships were killed in workplace accidents, with four more already in 2026.
The raison d’être of the state, capitalist governments, the police, and the justice system is the defense of the social order and the property of the wealthiest. The protection of the most vulnerable will never be their priority.
