For Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette, guest of franceinfo on Wednesday, the priority is to review “the whole chain” of treatment of violence against women, “from reporting to possible conviction”.
“Justice has been on the side of men for too long”, declares Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette straight away, when asked about the treatment of violence against women. The president of the High Council for Equality between Women and Men (HCE), invited by franceinfo on Wednesday February 22, believes that it “can no longer be victims without culprits”. The government has entrusted it with a mission to accelerate the fight against sexual violence and for better care..
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franceinfo: Each year, 100,000 women say they are victims of rape or attempted rape, and only 1,000 men are convicted. How to explain it?
Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette: It is the whole chain from the reporting of female victims to the eventual, and very rare, conviction of these crimes that poses a problem. For women, it’s a double penalty, they are victims and the crime goes unpunished. We need to take much better care of the victims, encourage them to report the rapes or attempted rapes of which they are victims. Many stay at home, because they are afraid of being badly received, not believed, it is a first huge problem.
Then there is the problem of gathering evidence. They must be encouraged to file a complaint very quickly in order to be able to collect the evidence that would make it possible not to close the file and to continue until a conviction. And then there is the legal support for these cases. Often, the police and magistrates are not sufficiently trained in the question of rape, the notion of consent, of control. Until now, justice has been on the side of men for too long. Saying “there is no evidence”, “it was too long ago”, “Madam, you are wandering, you may have looked for it a bit”. It is no longer tolerable. There can no longer be victims without culprits. If it had been men, the matter would have been settled long ago.
What is the first link to improve?
It is to collect the report. We have to help women to be able to go to a safe place, because the police station is not always a good welcome, even if I hope it will become so. There may be Women’s Houses, where everything comes together, the medical team to collect evidence, the legal team to support the victim in filing a complaint, psychological support because the women are traumatized. There should be one house of this type per department. All these closed cases are a slap in the face for the victims who came to testify.
Should the law also be changed?
There is something wrong with the system. You have to look at what doesn’t fit, what is no longer suitable. For example, there is the Istanbul Convention that France has ratified, and which plans to integrate the concept of consent into the texts in force, that has not been done, and perhaps it should be done . I will consult the associations, the lawyers, all the stakeholders to try to arrive quickly at effective solutions. This is no longer possible. It is also a question of additional means, as in Spain, for the Women’s Centers in each department for example. But it is fundamental for women to be able to lodge a complaint in complete security and legal certainty. Then there is the training of police officers and gendarmes to collect complaints, correctly complete questionnaires and reports. They must be benevolent. Finally, the magistrates who must judge must have a clear penal code, which makes it possible to give reason to the victim.
Your mission will be different from the Grenelle?
The Grenelle focused on domestic violence. It overlaps, because there are a lot of marital rapes, which often go by the wayside when they should be condemned. But this is all very recent. The freedom of speech is recent, the fact that a government takes care of it at this level too. It takes time. Unfortunately, the rapes don’t wait and that’s why I’ll try to do it as soon as possible. And for that, you will obviously need the means, as the associations have been calling for for a long time.