There are around 12,000 social mediators in France, according to the General Commission for Territorial Equality (CGET). They play an essential role, particularly in working-class neighborhoods: they defuse conflicts that residents sometimes encounter, in public spaces or in social housing, they support families in their administrative procedures, they listen to their grievances, their sorrows. , they are struggling to find solutions… And yet, today, social mediators do not have the recognition they deserve, as their missions are so crucial.
On Monday, a bill aimed at better recognizing this profession was adopted, at first reading, by the National Assembly. A unanimous vote, with a plebiscite from all political sides, welcomes Patrick Vignal (Renaissance), the deputy for Hérault who carried this text, after having made a veritable Tour de France of social mediation.
“Let these people finally become visible”
If the Montpellier parliamentarian has launched into this battle, it is because, he says, “despite their social usefulness, there is no recognition in the law of social mediation professions”. He wants this job, which is so essential in the neighborhoods, to be recognized “as a real profession,” confides the Hérault MP to 20 minutes. “May these people who are unfortunately invisible become, finally, visible. »
Several measures are provided for in this text. In particular the creation of a status of social mediator, and the development of training recognized by the State, with the establishment of schools to prepare candidates for this profession. But also the release of funding, to allow social mediators to escape from the precariousness with which they too often face. The MP also wants the creation of 7,000 additional social mediator positions over the next three years. Its text, validated hands down by the National Assembly, must now go through the Senate box.