Domestic violence increased by 10% in 2020. Most affected department in France, Seine-Saint-Denis. The Ministry of the Interior has just published its annual report, 3 days before November 25, the world day dedicated to the fight against violence against women.
The police and gendarmerie services recorded a 10% increase in domestic violence in 2020. They affected 159,400 people of all sexes in 2020.
Women are the first victims of domestic violence. That is 139,200 victims. With 87%, the proportion is stable compared to 2019, according to figures from the report by Interstats, the site for the dissemination of public statistics on insecurity and delinquency of the Ministry of the Interior. This report does not include homicides.
It is in Seine-Saint-Denis that we count the most acts of violence against women in metropolitan France with 9.2 female victims per 1,000 women.
“During the confinement, we were the department most affected by the violence. Many women, often precarious, have been confined with their spouses to small apartments”, reacts Pascale Labbé, Vice-President in charge of Gender Equality of the Departmental Observatory of Violence Against Women in Seine-Saint-Denis.
And to continue: With the Observatory (Editor’s note: violence against women), we are fighting this violence. We train professionals, we inform women. They now have more of a reflex to testify, to contact associations and to file a complaint. In the police stations, they are also better received. What is encouraging“.
And to conclude:we have a proactive policy in the department. Nevertheless, this observation should encourage us to strengthen our public policies.” She also calls on the government to relaunch a communication policy on existing systems.
Conversely, Paris records the fewest victims in Île-de-France. In 2020 there were between 2.7 and 4.6 female victims per 1,000 in the capital. But future trends do not seem to be going in the right direction according to the prefect of police Didier Lallement.
“We have exceeded, on this date in 2021, the number of rape complaints recorded by the police headquarters in 2020. he explained during the Paris Council on Wednesday November 17, “Ditto for sexual violence.“, he added.
In comparison, the national average victimization rate is 2.4 female victims per 1,000 inhabitants.
Paradox of figures, the number of women killed by their spouse or ex is down in 2020. 102 women were killed. They were 146 in 2019. Two died in the capital.
Only 3% of victims filed a complaint for rape or sexual assault by their spouse, i.e. 5,500 people. Here again, the overwhelming majority (5,400) are women who file a complaint.
“Domestic violence is infrequently followed by complaints, especially when it comes to sexual assault“, underlines the Ministry of the Interior in its annual report, to explain the gap between the figures of the victimization survey and the number of complaints recorded.
Some Parisian AP-HP hospitals, such as Saint-Antoine, Bichat and Pitié-Salpêtrière, have a judicial police officer able to take complaints from hospitalized victims. In 2022, the system should be extended to the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris.
Cities like Aulnay-sous-Bois here in Seine-Saint-Denis also have reception facilities.
Women victims of violence can also contact the 3919. Free and anonymous, this telephone number is now accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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