New measures are expected amid the Pelicot affair. As Mazan’s extraordinary rape trial rocks the news, Michel Barnier is due to announce a series of measures on Monday, November 25, to mark the International Day against Violence against Women.
According to La Tribune Dimanche, “the Government has set the goal that, by the end of 2025, victims will be able to file complaints in all hospitals in France”, while it is currently not possible to file complaints in all hospitals in the country.
Under the new system, suspected victims will be informed during their visit to the hospital. Then, the police will go directly to them, without them having to go to the police station. The objective is to make it easier to file complaints and make it more discreet for women who would not dare to go to the police.
Increase emergency aid
In response to repeated requests from associations that fight violence against women, the Government also plans to increase the amount allocated to universal emergency aid. It should go from 13 million euros in 2024 to 20 million euros in 2025.
Provided for by the law of February 28, 2023, emergency aid, implemented at the end of 2023, aims to help victims of domestic violence.
It must be allocated within three to five days to help the victim leave the home and cover their immediate expenses. More than 26,000 people have benefited from it since its introduction in December 2023.
Better train police, lawyers and doctors
Furthermore, the training of police officers on violence against women should be reinforced by dedicating time to this topic approximately every three years, so that they are aware of it throughout their career.
Same ambition for lawyers and doctors. The idea is that they are better prepared to deal with alleged victims, either to listen to them or to gather possible evidence.
The issue of chemical submission, central to Mazan’s rape trial and still poorly understood until recently, should be part of the training.
Raise awareness about shipping chemicals
Continuing with the theme of the presentation of chemical products, an important information campaign will begin on Monday. A telephone number and address of the Substance Facilitated Aggression Reference Center will be indicated in all pharmacies. A listening and support platform will also be created.
This awareness campaign will be launched by the Secretary of State for Equality between Women and Men, Salima Saa, with Gisèle Pelicot’s daughter, Caroline Darian, who created an association dedicated to this issue called M’endors not.
If the issue is still under consideration, the definition of consent could also be revised. Indeed, according to La Tribune Dimanche, Justice Minister Didier Migaud is “open to the idea of rewriting” this notion.
An awareness with the Mazan trial?
The Secretary of State, Salima Saa, assured the weekly that the Mazan trial, in which around fifty men are accused of having raped Gisèle Pelicot while she was unconscious, drugged without her knowledge, has caused agitation in the lines.
“There was a before and after MeToo, there will be a before and after Mazán,” says the Secretary of State.
The modern deputy Sandrine Josso, who filed a complaint against a senator whom she accuses of having drugged her and who later became spokesperson for the M’endors pas association, recalled this Sunday on BFMTV that “the law does not work for everyone.”
“Education is essential because there are many things in the heads of boys and girls,” he recalls, referring to sexist clichés. “There are laws that are not applied,” lamented the elected official, calling for “raising awareness about consent, rape, etc.”
Thousands of people in the streets on Saturday
In November 2017, Emmanuel Macron made equality between women and men a “great cause of the five-year period.” An emergency call number, 3919, has been set up for women victims of violence and those around them, as well as serious danger telephones and anti-reconciliation bracelets in particular.
Several thousand people took to the streets of Paris, Bordeaux and Marseille on Saturday to demand an “upturn” against violence against women.
The call to demonstrate was launched by more than 400 organizations and unions, such as Family Planning or #Noustoutes, and personalities such as the actress Judith Godrèche, present in the procession in Paris.
Source: BFM TV
