Awareness about the shipment of chemical products and reinforced universal emergency aid: the government announced this Monday, November 25, new measures against violence against women, two days after a day of mobilization in the street at the request of associations that denounced “effects management” and “insufficient” action by the government.
• The complaints system in hospitals was expanded.
The system that allows women victims of sexual violence to file a complaint at a hospital with an emergency or gynecological service will be expanded, the Secretary of State for Equality between Women and Men, Salima Saa, announced on Franceinfo.
The use of this system, in which the hospital contacts the police or the prosecutor to file a complaint, is already possible in many French hospitals, but will be expanded to 377 structures by the end of 2025, he clarified.
This measure, which Prime Minister Michel Barnier will return to on Monday afternoon during a visit to the Women’s House of the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, is already the subject of 236 agreements with establishments, according to Salima Saa.
“For all hospitals that have an emergency service and a gynecology service, within this hospital, in fact, a woman who travels there will be able to file a complaint,” explained the Secretary of State. It is up to the establishment to contact the police station or gendarmerie so that someone can come “to take the report.”
• A campaign was launched on the presentation of chemical products.
Another measure announced was the launch, this week, of an information campaign to help possible victims of chemical poisoning, which Salima Saa described as a “new plague.”
This campaign, born on the occasion 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 center of this matter of international resonance, and the listening platform. Crafs center (Reference Center on substance-facilitated aggression), in collaboration with the Order of Pharmacists.
This platform “can answer you, advise you and tell you which laboratory, what to do with your hair, blood tests, urine,” said Salima Saa, according to which there will be “a before and after of Mazan” since there “It was a before and after #MeToo.”
• The universal emergency aid budget increased.
Implemented at the end of 2023, universal emergency aid, intended to help victims of domestic violence and support them when they leave their home, will see its budget increase from 13 million euros in the Finance Bill (PLF) 2024 to 20 million euros. in the PLF 2025, according to Salima Saa. Since its implementation, this measure has benefited 33,000 people.
This aid, which can vary between 240 euros and 1,330 euros depending on the situation, is 800 euros on average.
In total, “we managed to obtain a 10% increase in the budget” dedicated to gender equality, which amounted to 85.1 million euros (+7.7 million euros) in the 2025 PLF, said the secretary of State.
• The associations ask for a “comprehensive framework law”
However, the announcement of government measures should not be enough to respond to the demands of women’s rights associations, which ask for a total budget of 2.6 billion euros per year and a “comprehensive framework law” to replace the existing legislation that they consider current. “fragmented and incomplete.”
According to the latest official figures, 93 women were victims of marital feminicide in 2023. That same year, the police registered more than 110,000 victims of sexual violence, the vast majority of whom were women (85%). According to the feminist collective #Noustoutes, 122 women have been murdered since the beginning of the year.
Source: BFM TV
