Argentina Shows Leadership against False Accusations

In recent years, several countries, succumbing to pressures from the MeToo movement and its followers, and wanting to show that they are doing something about it, have demonstrated a growing urgency to bring more prosecutions and convictions for alleged rapes and other sexual offences. With this has come an increased number of reported offences and a greater eagerness for police and prosecutors to bring charges. 

What has not been recognised so widely is the increase in false allegations of sexual misconduct, still less their devastating effects on those accused.

Quite the reverse, such has been the stampede to bring justice for sex-offence ‘victims’, that police and prosecutors have often ridden roughshod over the rights of the accused and generally turned a blind eye to false accusations. They have even admitted to being reluctant to prosecute false accusers on the flawed premise that it might prevent other victims of sex offences from coming forward. Sadly, this shows an appalling failure to comprehend just how devastating false accusations are to those falsely accused.

In England and Wales, the Police and CPS only tend to prosecute false accusers only when there are multiple false allegations and when there is clear proof of their falsehood – in sharp contrast to the eager prosecution of alleged sex-offenders based only upon the word of the complainant. 

Even then, the charge is usually ‘Attempting to pervert the course of Justice’, as if the person accused is of no consequence and the only victim is the Criminal Justice System itself.

In reaction to the hidden epidemic of false accusations, Falsely Accused Day, [https://falselyaccusedday.org/] taking place on the 9th September each year, was established to bring attention to the issue. This has now become an international event with campaigners from 19 other countries also holding peaceful protests on that day in 2024.

The burning question is:  “When will those in power in any of these countries take notice of the devastation that false accusations can bring?” 

The answer might seem unlikely to some, but in November, 2024, Argentina’s Justice Minister, Mariano Cúneo Libarona, sought to introduce harsher penalties for false accusers following a proposed new bill by Senator Carolina Losada.

The proposed bill would raise penalties to up to six years of imprisonment (from the current maximum of one year) for knowingly filing a false allegation in cases involving gender violence, abuse, or crimes against children. The bill also includes stiffer sentences for perjury, particularly in cases reliant largely on testimony, and calls for stricter scrutiny of legal professionals involved in such cases.

Ironically, where authorities in this country have resisted such measures partly because they think it would damage confidence in the system, Cúneo Libarona stated in a Senate Hearing:
“False accusations don’t just harm the accused, they erode the credibility of the entire system and public trust in institutions. We cannot allow lies to weaponize our justice system and destroy lives.”

In the same Senate Hearing,Andrea Guacci, a representative of the Women’s Front against False Accusations, said:
 “False accusations do not discriminate gender…in all cases they fulfil one objective: to attack their human rights, their honor and good name.”  She also said that “depression, anguish, psychological damage is serious” and that “this will protect the true victims of violence.” 

A lawyer specializing in gender issues, María Fátima Silva, said that:
“The flip side of gender ideology is false accusations,…the damage is also to the affections because it destroys entire families and false accusations occur in two areas: criminal and civil.There would be no false accusations if justice and prosecutors investigated each accusation thoroughly and as appropriate, because they should detect that the accusation is false,” 

Another organisation in Argentina dedicated to reducing false allegations is the False Accusations Observatory, a non-governmental organisation that works on the identification, documentation, and analysis of reports of false accusations. They produced a significant report in 2023 highlighting important statistical data. Their message is also clear, calling for urgent action…
“in the face of the growing wave of false accusations that harm innocent individuals and their families in Argentina…The consequences for those falsely accused are devastating. The most common include restraining orders, health deterioration, loss of contact with children, unjust social condemnation, chronic depression, and threats of more accusations.” 

The organisation also recorded 11 known suicides as a result of false allegations at the time of the report.

I suppose it is a little reassuring that, in one country at least, government ministers and others with the power to invoke positive change in their criminal justice system, recognise both the growing problem of false accusations and also the sheer devastation to the lives of those affected by them.

But is it too much to hope for that their equivalents in our own country might start to take the veils from their eyes and recognise that, in England and Wales, we have the same problems, with the same devastating effects on victims, which are in need of equally urgent action? 

All we can do is keep banging the drum, shouting the message, and hope that they will.