Some sixty feminist organizations met to present, on Thursday, November 21, a platform of 140 proposals in order to provide a large-scale response to the massive phenomenon of sexist and sexual violence. Among the signatories are the Women’s Foundation, the Feminist Collective Against Rape, the National Federation of Women’s Solidarity, but also associations and unions for the protection of children, such as the CGT. The goal proposed by the feminist coalition is to fight against all forms of sexual violence, in a broad sense, including incest and child crimes, sexual harassment and pimping. In 2023, 230,000 adult women reported having been victims of sexual violence, according to the interministerial mission for the protection of women.
The initiators of this “Framework law for comprehensive protection against sexual and sexist violence” denounce the weakness of the media and the judicial response provided to these cases, most reported since the emergence of the #metoo movement, in 2017. According to a study carried out by the Public Policy Institute, the rate of dismissals in matters of sexuality and violence reached 86% of cases in the decade 2012-2021, even reaching 94% for rape in 2020. Another figure stands out: the number of complaints of rape or sexual assault increased by 164% between 2018 and 2022. Without the number of convictions following the same evolution, quite the opposite.
Multiply the budget by 30
With this text, the signatories intend to propose a “global and ambitious public policy managed at the highest level”. They are inspired by the proposal of “framework law” against violence against women written in 2006 by the National Collective for Women’s Rights. The reactivation of this initiative, with an emphasis on sexual violence, dates back to the spring and the publication on the cover of Worldon May 14, from a photograph that presents one hundred “French faces” of the #metoo movement, titled “#metoo, we persist and sign”.
The 140 legislative and regulatory measures range from prevention to care for victims of this violence. Emphasis is placed on the need to strengthen resources. They calculate that the amount allocated to the fight against sexual violence outside the couple should be multiplied by 30 to cover the needs of victims who report acts of sexual violence to the police: that is, a budget of 344 million euros, estimates a Women’s Foundation report. “If the objective is to support all women who declare having been victims of sexual violence in victimization surveys, this budget should be increased to 2.2 billion euros annually”underlines the coalition.
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