The fight against domestic violence doesn’t stop in this time of lockdown, far from it. Thursday March 26th, on France 2, on the “Vous avez la parole” show, Secretary of the Interior Christophe Castaner said there were more and more domestic violence cases since the beginning of the confinement in the country.
To help abused women, Christophe Castaner has announced to set up in pharmacies a plan so that they can be helped if need be.
To find a solution to violence, the City of Paris, the Police Prefect, the Regional Prefect, the President and the public prosecutor at Paris judicial tribunal want to recall that even if the country is on lockdown, the fight against domestic violence remains a priority.
In a press release, the city hall of Paris reminds that during the confinement, leaving your home to file a complaint at the police station is one of the exceptions to the confinement obligation. In case of emergency, victims can rush to the closest police station or report to any police agent present in the public space who will orient them to a place where they can file a complaint.
The following phone numbers are also open at any time: 17 (to inform about a violent situation), 3430 (make an appointment to file a complaint), 3919 (Violences Femmes Info – national hotline for abused women), 0800059595 (Viols Femmes Informations – to report rape), 119 (Enfance en danger – to protect children) and 3975, a Parisian help hotline.
By the way, starting from April 1, 2020, 114 the number usually reserved for deaf or hearing-impaired people will be accessible via text for women abused so that they can report more easily. Once the text is read by the agents of the hotline, they contact the closest emergency service (paramedics, police…).
As for right centers in Paris, their emergency duty periods are sustained and remained available per email at: contact.pad20@droitsdurgence.org ; pad19.courriel@gmail.com ; contact.pad18@droitsdurgence.org ; pad15.courriel@orange.fr ; contact.pad13@droitsdurgence.org.
The platform to report sexual and sexist abuse set up by the Secretary of the Interior to report violence and enjoy help and advice is also open all along confinement.
Please also note that social workers are on call in Paris police stations so that victims, if their situation justifies so, can enjoy an emergency and temporary accommodation provided by the city of Paris, in addition to the expulsion of the violent partner eventually ordered by judiciary authorities.
As Le Parisien writes, Paris city hall has decided to free accommodations to pull victims apart from their violent partners. For the latter, the city plans 11 extra places in nigh shelters. As for abused women wishing to leave their homes after they filed a complaint, the authorities have planned 10 social housings addresses are kept secret.
In Seine-Saint-Denis, the problem is tackled head on. To guarantee the safety of abused women, the department has decided to pay for 10 hotel rooms during confinement where violent partners will have to stay as decided by a judge.
“Through confinement, to make sure a woman has more chance to stay safe, the violent man has to be expelled from the home. It’s a lot more complicated for a woman to leave to the hotel with her children” Seine-Saint-Denis Departmental Observatory of Violence against Women head Ernestine Ronai said to the Agence France Presse.
Moving on to Paris judicial tribunal, a duty period is sustained twice a week to run through restraining order claims forthwith. The services of the public prosecutor’s department in Paris can also decide of the referment of defendants in order to bring a quick penal response, if need be by an immediate trial.
Paris social services will soon have to set up a telephone call protocol enabling to call women or men already identified by services as abused in order to know their current situation and if need be to report to the public prosecutor’s department in Paris.
It’s Secretary of State for Gender Equality Marlène Schiappa who’s announced the launch on Twitter: “the #DomesticViolence hotline opens today. Save your family from violence, be counselled by calling 08.019.019.11”.
All in all, 22 protagonists, psychologists or specialists in taking care of perpetrators of violence will listen. They will then redirect perpetrators of violence towards one of the 36 facilities members of the FNACAV.
FNACAV chairman Alan Legrand said to the Agence France Presse: “The aim is to allow people about to be violent, or already violent, to call and find someone to listen and start working” enjoining violent men to “call before hitting”.
