French Woman Who Refused Sex ‘Not At Fault’ In Divorce, Top European Rights Court Rules

<p>The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ruled that a French woman who refused to have sex with her husband was not “at fault” in her divorce. The 69-year-old woman’s husband had obtained a divorce on the grounds that she had stopped having sex with him.</p>
<p>The top rights court condemned France over its decision, saying the courts should not consider a woman who refuses to have sex with her husband “at fault” in the event of divorce, AFP reported.</p>
<p>”In the present case, the Court could not identify any reason capable of justifying this interference by the public authorities in the area of sexuality,” a statement by the top rights court said.</p>
<p>The ECHR ruled that the French courts had violated the woman&rsquo;s right to respect for private and family life. “The European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights,” the statement said.</p>
<p>The French woman, identified by the court as Ms H.W, brought her case to the European Court of Human Rights in 2021 after exhausting legal avenues in France almost a decade after the divorce. She lives in Le Chesnay in western suburbs of Paris and is a mother of four.</p>
<p>The Strasbourg-based court said that the woman did not complain about the divorce, which she had also sought, but about the grounds on which the court had granted it.</p>
<p>It also said that the concept of marital duties should take “consent” into account as the basis for sexual relations. “The court concluded that the very existence of such a marital obligation ran counter to sexual freedom, (and) the right to bodily autonomy,&rdquo; it ruled.</p>
<p>”The applicant’s husband could have petitioned for divorce, submitting the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage as the principal ground, and not, as he had done, as an alternative ground,” the court found.</p>
<p>The woman got married in 1984 and had four children, including a disabled daughter, whom she constantly supported. Relations between the ocuple deteriorated after the first child was born. In 1992, the woman began experiencing health issues, AFP reported.</p>
<p>In 2002, her husband began abusing her verbally and physically, the court said. Two years later, she decided to stop having sex with him citing health problems and threats of violence from her husband as reasons. She filed for a divorce in 2012, Reuters reported.</p>
<p>In 2019, her complaints were dismissed by a court in Versailles, which sided with her husband. She turned to the ECHR after all her legal avenues were exhausted in 2021.</p>
<p>Hailing the ECHR’s ruling, the woman said, “I hope that this decision will mark a turning point in the fight for women’s rights in France.”</p>
<p>”This victory is for all the women who, like me, find themselves faced with aberrant and unjust court rulings that call into question their bodily integrity and their right to privacy,” she said, as reported by AFP.</p>