If “it’s still too much”, the ex-minister sees this decline as a sign that the policies carried out by the executive are working. “When it comes to sexual violence, I think we still have to progress,” she adds.
“It is a sign of encouragement for all these proactive policies which have been implemented under the leadership of the President of the Republic”, reacts on franceinfo Wednesday January 3 Isabelle Rome, former Minister Delegate in charge of Gender Equality, while the results of feminicides in 2023 were revealed by the Minister of Justice on Tuesday. According to provisional figures from the Ministry of Justice, which differ from those of the associations, there were 94 in 2023, compared to 118 in 2022.
franceinfo: “It’s very far from being satisfactory,” said Éric Dupond-Moretti about this declining balance sheet. Is this also your opinion? ?
Isabelle Rome: Yes, we must first think of all those women who lost their lives at the hands of their spouses and, of course, of their entire family. It is nevertheless a sign of encouragement for all these proactive policies which have been implemented under the leadership of the President of the Republic and in particular since the Grenelle on domestic violence in 2019. I remind you that in 2019, it is that is to say before the Grenelle on domestic violence, we had 146 women who had been killed.
“Of course it’s still too much. But it’s an encouragement, thanks to all these actions that have been carried out.”
Isabelle Romeat franceinfo
The start of the year marks the generalization of centers dedicated to domestic violence in all courts. You launched this device. Why is it essential?
I am really very happy that, as of January 1, all the tribunals and all the courts of appeal, 164 tribunals, 36 courts of appeal, are in working order with specialized centers. I have wanted this specialized justice for several years. This is of course a training requirement. Magistrates must be trained like police officers and gendarmes, so as not to miss dangerous situations. And we need coordinated action, very good sharing of information. For example, a family court judge must not be unaware that criminal proceedings for intentional violence are underway. Conversely, a criminal judge must know when a family case is pending.
What did the 2019 Grenelle meeting on domestic violence help to change?
There has been a very important contribution thanks to the human sciences which has made it possible to decode a certain number of mechanisms, such as for example this mechanism of control by which a violent spouse will dominate his partner, but also threaten her, harass her, this which can also cause not only feminicides, but also suicides. The Grenelle was also an opportunity to penalize what we call this forced suicide, which is not in these statistics, since it is not a murder.
We have made quite extraordinary progress. For example, on the “serious danger” telephone, in 2019, we had 300 reports. Today, we have 4,000. We also have the implementation of the anti-reconciliation bracelet, around 1,000 which are available. We also have to file a complaint at the hospital, this is extremely important because when a victim starts to speak, we must not let them go. And then also, of course, the presence of social workers, social workers in the police stations, in the gendarmeries, 3919, free call number, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And I must pay tribute to them too , there is all this daily work done by the associations.
Encourage people to file complaints, this has been the message for several years, but being a magistrate, you know the statistics, Isabelle Rome. You know how difficult it remains, in cases of rape and sexual assault, to gather the elements, to characterize the facts. How not to discourage women, given the difficulty of filing a complaint, given the difficulty of the journey ?
Regarding sexual violence, I think that we still have to progress, even if, I remind you here too, massive efforts have been made in terms of training, in particular for police officers and gendarmes with, for example, training grids. danger assessment which are integrated into their complaint filing software. A victim today should not be afraid to knock on the door of a police station or a gendarmerie. She will be well received. All the instructions from the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Justice are in the same direction.
Are the president’s words up to par today on the issues of violence against women?
What I find most important are actions. It is under the leadership of this president that all this proactive policy was carried out, in particular this Grenelle, which means that today, we have this nonetheless encouraging sign, since we have a certain drop in feminicides. .
You didn’t fall out of your chair when you heard him on France 5 talking about the Gérard Depardieu affair ?
I think that as head of state, he reiterated the presumption of innocence.
And he highlighted France’s pride in having Gérard Depardieu…
(silence) I have no further comment to make.