Lhe mobilization does not weaken. Five years after the emergence of the #MeToo movement, nearly 90 associations, unions or left-wing parties are calling for a “tidal wave in the streets to cry out our anger” in the face of gender-based and sexual violence, which “finds its roots in the patriarchy”, Saturday, November 19. Tens of thousands of people are demonstrating in Paris and throughout France to denounce the dysfunctions of justice in the fight against gender-based and sexual violence. They intend to call for a “framework law” against “impunity” for the aggressors.
“The institutions are not up to it”, denounce the organizers. In police stations, courts or within political parties, “the last few months have proven to what extent the voices of victims of gender violence have been called into question”, they protest. “What makes us angry is the impunity of the aggressors and the mistreatment reserved for the victims” when they file a complaint, explains to Agence France-Presse (AFP) Maëlle Noir, member of #NousToutes, who coordinates the organization of the parades.
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“We are constantly told that justice must do its job, but what job? We cannot blame the victim for not filing a complaint if she knows that it will lead nowhere, ”protests the activist.
“We are demonstrating today to pay tribute to the victims”
In Paris, several thousand people began to march around 2:30 p.m. from Place de la République to Place de la Nation, noted a journalist from Agence France-Presse. “We are strong, we are proud and feminist and radical and angry”, chanted protesters, while others shouted “meToo everywhere, justice nowhere”. On placards, uniformly purple, the emblematic color of the gathering, one could read in particular “dominant male, who do you think you are? “, “stop the culture of rape” or “believing the victims save lives”.
“We are demonstrating today to pay tribute to the victims,” insisted Sandrine Bouchait, of the National Union of Families of Femicide (UNFF), for whom “feminicide is the top of the pyramid of violence. sexual and sexist”, and whose association asks for relatives “a status of victims with psychological and financial support”.
Associations demand more budget and a framework law
To fight against violence, the associations are demanding a public budget of two billion euros per year, but also a “framework law” which would notably establish “specialized brigades and courts”, financial aid for “safety” women victims, 15,000 additional dedicated accommodation places, or the strengthening of education in sexual and emotional life at school.
Asked about these demands, the Minister for Gender Equality, Isabelle Rome, recalled that she was open to the establishment of specialized police and justice. A parliamentary mission is working on the subject and must submit its conclusions to the government in a few months for a “more responsive and efficient justice”, she underlined Saturday at the microphone of RMC.
This Thursday 24, let’s register the right to#abortion and contraception in the constitution. We need a billion as soon as possible to fight against violence against women!
Many on the march against gender-based and sexual violence #VSS #WeAll pic.twitter.com/7bhcN4fR9k
— Danielle Simonnet (@SimonnetDeputee) November 19, 2022
As for the financial means, “they have not ceased to increase”, to reach “a total amount of 2.4 billion” euros “when we add up the sums put in by each ministry”, observed the minister, who recognized however that these sums are “not specifically” dedicated to the fight against violence, but include broader fields, such as education and “economic equality”.
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More and more facts
In Paris, the procession will leave at 2 p.m. from Place de la République and join Place de la Nation. Demonstrations are also planned in Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Lille, Strasbourg, Rennes, Nancy or Dijon, in particular. In 2021, the mobilization – organized ahead of November 25, World Day for the fight against violence against women – had gathered 50,000 people in Paris, according to the organizers, and 18,000 according to the police headquarters.
A year later, the exasperation of feminist organizations is still as strong, fueled by the high number of feminicides – already 100 since the beginning of the year according to an associative collective, against 122 last year according to official figures – and by the reluctance of the political world to dismiss certain officials accused of violence against women.
However, the facts denounced are increasingly numerous: between 2017 and 2021, the number of rapes or attempted rapes recorded by the Ministry of the Interior doubled, from 16,900 to 34,300. Victims are more likely to denounce old facts, explains the ministry, which also sees in it the sign of the “liberation of speech”. An expression that now exasperates associations, because “women have always spoken, but they are not listened to”, points out Maëlle Noir.
In the world of work too, the fight against gender-based violence is progressing too slowly, pointed out the main French unions in a letter sent Thursday to the Prime Minister. Prevention policies are still insufficient there, and when a problematic case is reported, “instead of suspending, then sanctioning the employee in question, we often continue to move, discredit, even placardize or dismiss the victim”, deplore the petitioners.