On the occasion of the International Day Against Violence Against Women, Michel Barnier made a series of announcements Monday afternoon from the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris. Earlier in the morning on the Franceinfo set this Monday, the Secretary of State in charge of Equality between women and men, Salima Saa had already unveiled one of these measures. Le Parisien takes stock.
A “Women’s House” in each department by the end of 2025
The Prime Minister announced that there will be, by the end of 2025, at least one “Women's House” in each French department. These structures welcome and support women who are victims of violence, whether physical, psychological, sexual or marital. Michel Barnier took the opportunity to underline their “essential” nature and therefore wishes to extend this system throughout the territory.
Expanding the number of hospitals to file complaints
This was the major announcement made by Salima Saa this Monday morning: the government wishes to “expand” the number of hospitals allowing complaints to be filed. This system already exists in some departments, but not in all. “The idea is to extend it to all hospitals by the end of 2025”, that is to say in the 377 establishments in France, she indicated.
How will this complaint proceed? Concretely, the hospital establishment and the police station “will be in contact” after having received the patient. “Someone will then come to take the statement on site,” she detailed. The objective is to make it easier to file a complaint and to make it more discreet for women who would not dare go to a police station. “The idea is to tell women do not hesitate to walk through the door of a hospital », Insisted the Secretary of State.
An effort will also be made regarding the training of those who hear from victims of violence (doctors, police officers, etc.). “This training must be done throughout the career and on a regular basis”, and no longer only upstream, added the Secretary of State. “We must adapt training tools to new forms of violence, such as chemical submission.”
An experiment in the reimbursement of individual kits to detect chemical submission
On Monday morning, Secretary of State announced that the government was also supporting an information campaign launched this week to help potential victims of chemical submission, which she described as “a new scourge”. This campaign, born in the wake of the Mazan rape trial, was initiated by the M'endors pas association, co-founded by the daughter of Gisèle Pelicot, the main victim at the heart of this affair with international resonance, in partnership with the 'Order of Pharmacists.
“We are going to experiment with reimbursement by Health Insurance in several departments of individual kits making it possible to detect a chemical submission to improve the care of potential victims,” added Michel Barnier Monday afternoon.
An increase in resources devoted to emergency aid for victims
Another measure, the government plans to increase the amount allocated to emergency aid for victims of violence. This budget should increase from 13 million euros in 2024 to “20 million euros in 2025,” said Salima Saa. The average amount awarded to victims who have to leave their homes in a hurry is “around 800 euros”. It can go up to 1,330 euros, depending on the situation.
According to the latest official figures, 93 women were victims of marital femicide in 2023. More than 110,000 victims of sexual violence – the overwhelming majority of whom were women (85%) – were recorded by the police in the same year. According to the feminist collective #Noustoutes, 122 women have been killed since the start of the year.
