At the hands of their partner or ex-partner, 93 women were victims of femicide in 2023, figures the annual report of the interministerial mission for the protection of women (Miprof) published this Tuesday, November 19. The same year, 319 suffered attempted femicide, while 773 suffered harassment by a spouse or ex-spouse leading to suicide or a suicide attempt. In total, 1,185 victims were recorded.
This is the first time that Miprof has included victims of forced suicide in its overall count, an offense entered into the penal code in 2020, after feminist associations called for a complete overview of violence against women.
«This represents more than three women per day who are victims of direct femicide or attempted femicide, such as murders or assassinations, or indirect such as suicides or suicide attempts,” notes Julie Caillet, in charge of the mission at the National Observatory of Violence Against Women. But the census of violence against women is imperfect since this data only takes into account “feminicides within couples”.
During the presentation of the report, the Minister of Health Geneviève Darrieussecq described this violence as “upsetting, unacceptable and unspeakable”. “Our struggle must never end,” she added.
“We know how difficult it is for victims to ask for help, to speak, but also how difficult it is to lend an ear,” declared Paul Christophe, Minister responsible for Equality between Women and Men, in a video message broadcast on this occasion. Insisting on the importance of actors on the ground, he considered that “this fight did not tolerate a drop in [notre] attention», a few days before the planned announcement of a new battle plan against violence against women.
For the year 2024, the feminist collective #NousToutes has counted 117 feminicides since the start of the year as of November 10. The Miprof report lists that in 2023, the police recorded 3,405 offenses for sexist and sexual outrage, i.e. 19% more than in 2022. And 230,000 adult women declared having been victims of violence sexual, the equivalent of the population of the city of Lille. These women are between 18 and 24 years old in almost 60% of cases.
