In 2002 Ernestine Ronai took over the direction of the Departmental Observatory on Violence Against Women in Seine-Saint-Denis. Twenty years later, France 3 Paris Île-de-France takes stock of this first activist.
Ernestine Ronai has been in charge of the Observatory since its creation. Member of the High Council for Gender Equality, former national coordinator within the Interministerial Mission for the Protection of Women Victims of Violence (MIPROF), she leads this departmental structure, the first of its kind to emerge in France. Her goal is to combat violence against women and children by involving associations, health workers, departmental services but also judges, magistrates and lawyers.
In 2002, the Departmental Observatory of Violence Against Women was created. What motivated this project?
Originally, it is a question of political will. Furthermore, the general council at the time feared that this stigmatized the department and that the creation of an Observatory suggested that there was more violence in Seine-Saint-Denis than in the other departments.
Twenty years later we see that the Observatory, which is a partnership structure, has become an innovation laboratory. We look at reality with clarity to make a diagnosis on things, and from there we invent devices that improve them, with the various departments of the department.
What are these devices?
There are several, but I think first of all of the “phone of grave danger”. It is a device that has been set up with the Bobigny Public Prosecutor’s Office, the police and SOS Victimes that allows women and children who are victims of violence to alert the police via a telephone equipped with an emergency call.
A “Femicide” protocol is another system put in place this year that allows children orphaned by one or both parents following a marital homicide or femicide to be hospitalized for a week and have a follow-up. psychological.
We also recently set up the “Youth Against Sexism” system, which targets third grade schoolchildren. In all, 4,200 young people participated. They work all year to reflect and combat sexist and violent behavior, and eventually get a patent.
There are also protection orders, these are measures that allow immediate protection. They are issued by the judge without the need to file a complaint.
And it works?
Yes, protection orders work fine. Since their creation in 2013, 2,233 prescriptions have been issued in Seine-Saint-Denis. This is 10% of all prescriptions issued in France. But the department is not home to a tenth of the French population! This shows that our partnerships work and that protection has become a judicial policy.
Since the creation of the Observatory 20 years ago and until today, do you believe that violence against women has increased?
I wouldn’t say they increased or decreased, I think it was the complaints that increased. They have increased by 30% in one year in 2022, which shows that women have more faith in the police, who welcome them even better.
We must stop believing that there are small acts of violence
Precisely, do you think the public authorities are doing enough?
No, that’s still not enough. The first imprisonment was very revealing of this, because there was a formidable government campaign that led to a 30% increase in reports of domestic violence (for the first week of imprisonment, ed).
With stronger and more regular campaigns, lives could be saved.
This shows that with stronger and more regular campaigns, lives can be saved. And for that, we need to stop believing that there are minor acts of violence.
Since when can we talk about violence within the couple?
For women victims of violence, that is on average one in ten women, it begins quite early in the relationship with, first of all, psychological violence. These are generally humiliating comments, about clothing, about cooking … Then there is sexual violence, and often also economic violence with the desire to have control over the means of payment. Then there is physical violence, recognized by the penal code.
Did the positive results of the Observatory on Violence Against Women, which was the first in France, allow other Observatories to see the light?
Yes, there are currently twenty-two other Territorial Observatories and two are in the process of being created. We are also working on the creation of an international observatory to enable decentralized cooperation in other partner territories of Seine-Saint-Denis such as Jenin and Grande Comore.
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Twenty years after the creation of the Observatory, it is time to take stock but also to project. What are the next projects for the Seine-Saint-Denis Observatory?
One of our next actions will be, for example, to go to different markets of the department with our Bus for women’s rights and the fight against violence (Bobigny, Saint-Denis, Montreuil…). The goal is to get in direct contact with women to sensitize them.
Is Ernestine Ronai, after twenty years at the head of this Observatory, still optimistic about the future of this fight against violence against women?
I always see the glass half full and never half empty. I think social awareness is growing and our efforts are not in vain. Obviously, the situation is still not as good as I would like, but we must remain optimistic.
Emergency numbers:
- 17: police
- 18: fire brigade
- 39 19: Violence Women Info
- 0800 05 95 95: SOS rape
A day of confrontation at the MC93 in Bobigny, opened by Isabelle Rome, Minister Delegate to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, responsible for Equality between women and men, Diversity and Equal Opportunities, and Stéphane Troussel, President of the Department of Seine-Saint-Denis.
According to the departmental council of Seine-Saint-Denis, 60,000 women in the department have been victims of violence within the couple and 140,000 children are co-victims of this domestic violence.
