Hellfest strengthens its measures against sexual and sexist violence

Hellwatch became Hellcare: a more comprehensive and above all better coordinated system for prevention, listening and reporting on issues of discrimination d’addiction and of sexual violence and sexist.

A necessity for Hellfest, one of the biggest festivals in France, which this year is bringing together some 240,000 festival-goersin Clisson (Loire Atlantique).

“We create a big city for 4 days. So inevitably, we find all the problems that exist in society there,” contextualizes Cindy Pajot which was hired full time last March by management to oversee its entire CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) policy. “This brings together all concrete actions on the ground around the environment and societal issues,” she summarizes. “One of the big missions that I was given for this edition was to take stock of the subjects of discrimination and sexual violence. With so many people gathered in a festive context like a festival, we can have people who are very flirtatious (which can be sexual harassment), others who take photos upskirts. During slams, it can unfortunately also go as far as finger rape…”.

A very big task to tackle, and in a short time at that.

The priority was to make do with what already existed, because there are already a lot of things in place at the festival. They just weren’t valued enough.

Four Hellcare centers created

The brigade of volunteers who have been patrolling the site for two years are still there, with light blue t-shirts rather than orange. “There are also many more of them. From 25 in 2022 they increased to 85 in 2024,” says the manager responsible for coordinating the entire system.

THE prevention associations (alcohol, drugs, sexuality, harassment, etc.) such as Baraka’teuf or Stop the Violence are also still there but more visible thanks to the various Hellcare polesinstalled on the site. “There are four: one at the Hellcity, one in the festival, one at the festival campsite and another at the volunteer campsite,” lists Cindy Pajot.

Cup-style condoms, stand-up pee pads… new products

On these stands, which are also easily identifiable by their sky blue color we can take advice, talk but also recover protections auditivesfree of charge as well as, and this is something new: cup hoods. “We put it on top and we can drink peacefully with a straw. It prevents drugs from being put in our glass. It’s a problem we’ve already experienced,” the manager admits.

Another new feature this year is the presence of the association Release the Pressure which works in particular for the place of women.

They set up activities at the toilets in the forest, where we regularly had problems with congestion. We therefore created a vulva area at the urinals. The association has stand-up urinals tested there (they also sell them).

In total, 150 volunteers make up the Hellcare system. Of which 14 psychologists graduates.

A free reporting application

These psychologists can receive, at the Hellcare centers, anyone who is feeling unwell. But also intervene quickly throughout the site in the event of an urgent problem. And this, thanks to l’application mobile « Hellcare » (free download on iOS and Android), created this year.

“The principle is that once the application has been downloaded, you can trigger an alert either by tapping 3 times on your phone, or by pressing the bottom button on the side of your cell phone 3 times in a row (the one under the sound controls), or directly by clicking on the big circle that appears on its screen,” explains Cindy Pajot. “For those who have accepted the recording when downloading, this will allow the security PC to hear live what is happening to allow us to deploy the right means on site (prevention, intervention, etc.). And those who refused will in any case still be geolocated so that we can come and see what is happening on site.”

Possibility of filing a complaint on the Hellfest website

The application is intended to be used by the victimsby witnesses“The goal is really for everyone to be vigilant,” summarizes Cindy Pajot, who also notes that a judicial police officer is always present during the festival to be able to file a complaint directly on site.

A system set to evolve

This year is a first for Hellcare. But certainly not a last one. “It’s a strategy over several years,” assures Cindy Pajot.

We will obviously take stock of what this has given us to see areas for improvement. The objective is really to do collaborative work with all the associations, and even other festivals.

A job that interests the institutions. “I went to present the project to the prefecture. It was well received because it is a subject on which we were expected.”

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