New measures against domestic violence will be implemented in September. Among them, 500 alert telephones made available to women in great distress.
The figures are still so alarming. Each year, it is estimated that 200,000 women, aged 18 to 59, are victims of domestic violence, of a physical or sexual nature. Only 16% of them dare to file a complaint. Faced with this cruel reality, the fourth interministerial plan for the prevention and fight against violence against women plans to make 500 emergency telephones available throughout France, to help women in distress warn the authorities.
A success in Seine-Saint-Denis
This device has already been tested in Seine-Saint-Denis, with rather encouraging results. Thus, 157 alert telephones were deployed there, and made it possible to report 364 dangerous situations for women. The government now wants to go further, by extending this measure to all of France.
Equipped with a pre-programmed button, these telephones allow you to quickly communicate with a remote assistant, who then analyzes the urgency of the situation, and if necessary warns the police, in less than 10 minutes. Granted by the public prosecutor to women who have already suffered attacks and assaults in their relationship, these phones will therefore allow victims to stem the cycle of violence, by warning the competent authorities before other violence takes place. .
146 deaths in 2013
But the Departmental Observatory of Violence against Women of Seine-Saint-Denis also recently requested that other measures be put in place. Indeed, the urgency of the situation calls for a large-scale plan, which goes further than the generalization of alert telephones. Thus, 146 women were killed by their companions in 2013. In addition, 75,000 rapes take place each year, a third of them within the couple. Only 10,885 are declared to the police. Fear, shame, trauma, and even attachment to a spouse often prevent women from filing a complaint.
Among the other measures envisaged, the generalization of social workers in police stations, the establishment of free psychological consultations, to better deal with trauma, or the facilitation of emergency accommodation for victims. So many solutions tested in Seine-Saint-Denis, and which have also significantly contributed to the improvement of the situation in this department, particularly affected by domestic violence.
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