The National Assembly voted unanimously on Monday in favor of a bill aimed at creating universal emergency financial assistance for victims of domestic violence. The scale of aid, modulated according to needs, must be specified by decree. The goal is to allow victims to seek refuge as quickly as possible, without financial dependency.
The deputies picked up and modified a proposal by the centrist senator Valérie Létard, also voted unanimously by the upper house in October at first reading. Deputies and senators must easily agree on a final text for final adoption in the coming weeks, and then its promulgation within a maximum period of nine months.
Avoid “false starts”
With this help, “the first exit” from home should no longer be “a false start”, stressed Minister Isabelle Rome, responsible for gender equality. Because today, victims “straight or financially dependent sometimes have no choice but to go back to square one, in this chamber with their abusers,” she lamented.
The deputies supported a government amendment to be able to pay this aid in the form of a donation and not just an interest-free loan as the Senate had voted. This economic support will be conditional on a protection order, the filing of a complaint or a report addressed to the Public Prosecutor. At least a part must be paid within three days.
When the aid is granted in the form of a loan, its reimbursement will be the responsibility of the person found guilty of violence in your case, with an additional sanction of “obligation to repay”.
Against the advice of the government, the Assembly adopted an amendment by environmentalist Sandrine Rousseau to create a multi-year law on financing for the fight against violence against women. However, her fate is uncertain during the Parliamentary Shuttle continuation. Inspired by an experiment in the department of the North, the bill received unanimous support. The deputies of Agrupación Nacional had initially tried to retake it in its parliamentary niche, a day dedicated to its texts on January 12.
207,743 victims of domestic violence in France in 2021
But the Conference of Presidents of the Assembly, which brings together the President of the Assembly, in particular the leaders of the political groups and commissions, decided to include this cross-party issue during an “Assembly Week”, which began on Monday. The RN did not object. A deputy from RN, Emmanuel Taché de la Pagerie was co-rapporteur, with the elected representative of the independent group Liot Béatrice Descamps.
The Ministry of the Interior has identified 207,743 victims of domestic violence in France in 2021, mainly women. 122 were killed by their spouse or ex-spouse that same year, according to the ministry.
Source: BFM TV
