Sexual harassment

The New York state attorney general’s office has subpoenaed dozens of officials in New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration as part of a probe into sexual harassment accusations, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Friday.

Cuomo’s aide Melissa DeRosa, whose title is secretary to the governor, was among the officials to receive a subpoena earlier this month, the newspaper reported citing people familiar with the matter.

Reuters was unable to confirm the report immediately. Spokespersons for Cuomo did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comments.

Cuomo, 63, is resisting pressure to resign following the flurry of accusations of sexual harassment or misconduct and revelations that his administration under-reported nursing home deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor has denied any wrongdoing, though he has acknowledged it had been a “custom” for him to kiss and hug people when greeting them.

He has said he was sorry if his behavior had made “people feel uncomfortable.”

A Vietnamese teen girl was beaten by a gang of about 30 people organized by the girlfriend of the man who had raped her in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Pham Viet Hung, deputy head of the Department of Public Security of Cho Moi District in An Giang, said on Tuesday afternoon that the department had criminally detained Le Thanh Trung, a 19-year-old man in Tan My Commune in the same district, for the investigation into his act of “having sexual intercourse with people from 13 to under 16 years old.”

The detention came after H.T.H., living in Binh Phuoc Xuan Commune in the same district, had reported to local police that his daughter, M., had been sexually assaulted by Trung and assaulted by a gang organized by his girlfriend.

According to H., M., together with Ng. and D.A., visited Trung’s house on the evening of February 25.

M. then had drinks at Trung’s house with him and some other people.

It was until 11:00 pm on the same night that M. asked the drinking-buddies to take her home.

But the drinking-buddies all declined M.’s request and asked her to sleep over at Trung’s house.

M.’s decided to follow the sleepover suggestion as Trung pledged to let her sleep alone.

M. said that she could not properly close the door of the room she slept in as it had been broken.

In the early hours of the next day, Trung went to M.’s room while she was sleeping and raped her. She tried to resist him in vain.

After the rape, Trung took M. back to her home.

Trung then sent M. a text message with an apology and pledged to take responsibility for what he had done.

As for M., she kept the incident to herself.

Trung then told a person named Th. his sexual intercourse with M.. Th. went on to pass it to T., who was Trung’s girlfriend.

Out of jealousy, T. sent a threatening text message to M., demanding to meet her in person.

When M. arrived at the Muoi Than Canal to meet T. at about 5:00 pm on March 8, around 30 people used motorbikes to block M.’s way and prevent other people from entering the place.

T., with the support of two additional girls, physically and verbally attacked M., as well as took off M.’s clothes to humiliate her while another person filmed the entire process.

The gang then let M. go.

Frightened by the incident, M. took sleeping pills to commit suicide, which was promptly discovered by her family.

After receiving H.’s report, police in Cho Moi District sent M. to the medical facility for examination, as well as summoned the people involved in the case and witnesses.

According to police officers, Trung admitted his sexual assault.

“At first, we thought M. was under 13 years old, but after verification, we found out that she was over 13,” said Senior Lieutenant Colonel Pham Viet Hung, without stating M.’s exact age.

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The signing ceremony on the pilot model “For a healthy environment on social networks” between Bac Tu Liem District’s Education and Training Department and the local police agency.

Teenagers are more vulnerable to unhealthy information on social networks and can make misperceptions and take regrettable actions, said Major Phuong Minh Thang, Deputy Chief of Bac Tu Liem District Police Agency. There are 16 secondary schools with a total of nearly 13,000 students in Bac Tu Liem District.

According to Thang, the local police agency solved 16 cases of abuse of children under 14 years old, including children being seduced by people that they befriended on the internet and then were sexually harassed by these individuals.

Some 14-year-old students even committed suicide, leaving a note saying they were suffering from depression and pressure in life but were unable to share this with family members. This behavior is partly due to the frequent use of social networks.

Police in Bac Tu Liem District advised the local People’s Committee to implement the pilot model at Phuc Dien Secondary School.

The police will coordinate with the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Applied Science and Technology in Crime Prevention and Fighting of the People’s Police Academy to plan electronic lessons with appropriate content.

This model will then be applied to the remaining 15 schools in the district.

Ms. Do Thi Kim Loan, Principal of Phuc Dien Secondary School, said that for many years, the school has regularly held seminars about laws and regulations, including educating students to use social networks properly. These seminars are usually in forms of on-stage performances, games, questions and answers, among others. Thanks to such activities, students have made positive changes in perception and behavior.

When there is coordination between the district police, school and parents, it can help teenagers learn how to use social networks more safely, Loan said.

“Our school is trying to ensure that all of our students have basic knowledge about the Law on Cyber Security and use social networks safely and effectively, as well as know how to stay away from criminals and society’s vices in cyberspace,” said Loan.

PV

The French parliament on Thursday adopted legislation that characterises sex with a child under the age of 15 as rape and punishable by up to 20 years in jail, bringing its penal code closer in line with many other Western nations.

While the age of consent was previously 15, prosecutors in France used to be required to prove sex was non-consensual to obtain a rape conviction.

“This is an historic law for our children and our society,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told the National Assembly.

“No adult aggressor will be able to claim the consent of a minor younger than 15-years-old.”

The vote in favouor of the bill was unanimous at its final reading, the Assembly said on Twitter.

There had been concerns from some lawmakers that an age of consent below which sex automatically constituted rape might criminalise a consensual sexual relationship between a minor and a person only a few years older.

As a consequence, a “Romeo and Juliet” clause that allows for sexual relations between a minor and an individual up to five years older. The clause will not apply in cases of sexual assault.

The legislation also considers incestuous sex with a minor under 18 to be rape.

In a country that has long cherished its self-image as the land of seduction and romance, sexual abuse against women and children for years went undetected or undeclared in the upper echelons of power and within celebrity circles.

But there has been much soul-searching in recent years.

The #MeToo movement that swept around the world after numerous women in 2017 accused U.S. movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault proved a turning point in France. So too did the fall from grace in 2020 of a French writer who had written openly about his pedophilia.

France had already toughened its sex crimes laws in 2018 when it outlawed sexual harassment on the streets, leaving cat-callers and aggressively lecherous individuals facing potential on-the-spot fines.