The deputy mayor of Paris in charge of equality between women and men, Hélène Bidard, and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, in August 2019. – Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
- Public Assistance – Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP) will open reception centers for women victims of domestic violence in three Parisian hospitals in partnership with, in particular, the town hall of Paris.
- The Pitié Salpêtrière hospital, the Bichat Claude-Bernard hospital and the Hôtel-Dieu are concerned.
- “Many women go to the hospital but do not tell health professionals that they are victims of domestic violence” comments Marie-France Casalis of the Feminist Collective Against Rape
Imagine a woman who comes to the hospital for a burn. Asked by a doctor about the origin of her injury, she expresses unease, retreats into silence. Very quickly, this health professional understands that this woman has been burned by her husband. Trained beforehand in the detection of domestic violence, he succeeds in making her speak, and in directing her to the branch of his hospital dedicated to violence against women, where an association will take care of her.
This is the ideal scenario of the device imagined by the Assistance publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), following a meeting of the steering committee of the Paris observatory to combat violence against women, which included the Paris city hall and other partners. The measure will be implemented at the end of the year in three Parisian hospitals: the Pitié Salpêtrière, the Bichat Claude-Bernard hospital and the Hôtel-Dieu, located within three Parisian hospital groups. To try to reduce the number of femicides in the capital, where on average between two and three women are killed by their spouses each year (see box at the end of the article).
The example of the Maison des femmes in Saint-Denis
“Many women go to the hospital but do not tell health professionals that they are victims of domestic violence. We are delighted with this progress! »Comments Marie-France Casalis, from Feminist collective against rape (CFCV), which manages the Viols Femmes Informations number (0 800 05 95 95). A device that replicates that of
The Women’s House in Saint-Denis, in conjunction with the Delafontaine hospital.
“The idea is to stop dividing up the care of these women, so that they have plenty of information there and that each professional knows what resources are available”, comments Anne Rubinstein, chief of staff. by Martin Hirsch, the boss of the AP-HP. The organization puts a million euros on the table, the State 300,000, the L’Oréal foundation 150,000. These places should eventually allow women to file a complaint, as is already the case at Saint-Antoine hospital, hopes Anne Rubinstein.
The mayor of Paris will finance the permanence of associations
“Today we have public functions in silos, the idea is to get out of these silos, and to work together, to land the care on the territory”, adds Hélène Bidard, assistant to the town hall of Paris in charge of gender equality.
A call for tenders will be launched by the town hall of Paris, which will finance feminist associations to hold hotlines. In all 90,000 euros, which will probably not be enough to ensure a 24-hour permanence, but could provide at least support in evenings and weekends. That is to say at a time when the trained police officers of the brigade for the protection of families are no longer stationed in the police stations, and when women often find themselves confronted with police officers who are not trained, affirms the elected, who wants to fill this “breakdown of support”.
A home for children co-victims of domestic violence
This announcement follows that of Dominique Versini, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of children’s rights and child protection, of a child protection home, dedicated to children victims of violence. marriage, as well as a home for children victims of incest.
While complaints of domestic violence have increased sharply in recent years, the Paris city hall boasts of having doubled the budget on violence against women in the past three years, with an increase of 105% for grants to specialized associations. But at the same time, the equality assistant complains that there has not been a similar increase on the side of the police and the judiciary. And to conclude: “It is necessary to train all the personnel of justice and the police force, it is not possible that for lack of means there is such a lottery which is organized”.
On average between two and three feminicides are committed each year in Paris
According to the 2020 inventory of the Paris Observatory for Violence Against Women (OPVF), the city of Paris recorded a feminicide in 2020, a figure lower than usual, in a context where the number of feminicides has increased. strongly decreased that year at the national level, because of the pandemic. Since 2014, 16 women have been murdered by their spouses in Paris, an average of between two and three women per year. Nearly 3,500 acts of domestic violence were committed in Paris in 2020, a figure down 8% compared to the 2016-2019 average.
According to Hélène Bidard, if the number of complaints on this subject has increased for three years, sanctions and support also: serious danger telephones, an emergency device allowing rapid intervention by law enforcement agencies, are now available. hui more distributed (50 in 2021, against only 20 in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 and 45 in 2020, according to the OPVF document). 68% of protection orders, which provide emergency protection for victims of domestic or intra-family violence, were accepted in Paris last year, compared with less than 50% in 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016. More women are also received in access points to the law, by the Institute of Victimology and more women have been supported by associations. However, the number of empowerment internships is declining in 2020.