Gender-based violence in transport: Elisabeth Bourne wants a “collective start”

“We will raise our gaze against the aggressors.” Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne took the metro in Paris this Friday as an exception. The goal was to take part in the launch of a campaign against sexism and sexual violence in transport at the Saint-Lazare station.

The communications campaign, which will last a month and cost €1 million, “responds to a disturbing observation: almost all women, nine out of ten women, report being verbally or physically attacked on public transport. , even sexual assault or even rape. This is completely unacceptable,” said the head of government.

“We need a real change in mentality” and “to bring about a collective spirit (…) Let’s not keep our eyes glued to our phones. Let’s react collectively, let’s raise our eyes,” added the head of government, who was accompanied by three ministers: Clément Beaune (Transport), whose ministry is the initiator and financier of the campaign, Dominique Faure (Collectivity) and Bérenger Couillard (Equality). ).

“Shame overwhelms the victims when it should crush the perpetrators.”

The Prime Minister then greeted the RATP agents and police. “It happens that third parties intervene, but this requires a certain courage,” the policeman testified.

In addition to public transport, Clément Beaune will convene this Friday afternoon a committee dedicated to this violence to work with the VTC and the taxi sector. He intends to require “very strong commitments” from professionals regarding data sharing and driver training, he told Le Parisien. He also hopes that all acts of sexist violence, “if proven, will lead to expulsion and exclusion from applications where a six-month prison sentence is currently sought.”

Returning to Matignon, the seat of government, Elisabeth Bourne held a meeting with stakeholders involved in the issue. “Violence against women is still too often a shame. The shame that engulfs the victims, although it should crush the perpetrators,” she said.

She welcomed a series of measures that will come into force on December 1, such as the payment of “emergency financial assistance” to victims of domestic abuse who must leave their home. The decree, published this Friday in the Official Journal, also provides all jurisdictions with “poles specialized in intra-family violence”.

Elizabeth Bourne has also promised to consider Renaissance MP Emily Chandler’s bill in the National Assembly, which would create an “immediate” protection order for victims of domestic violence.