Confiscate guns from domestic abuse suspects, French police told
A French government panel has urged authorities to confiscate guns from people who are accused of domestic abuse.
That proposal was one of 65 recommendations released on Tuesday to tackle domestic abuse in France, where a woman is killed by her partner every three days, according to government statistics.
The French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, launched the initiative in September. It is the first time France has undertaken a comprehensive national effort to address domestic abuse, according to the equality secretary, Marlène Schiappa.
Other proposals include mandatory reporting requirements for health professionals who witness signs of domestic abuse and new protocols for police responding to abuse complaints. The experts also are encouraging awareness programmes, urging banks to make it easier for victims of domestic abuse to leave their partners and educating children and adolescents about gender equality.
Schiappa said most domestic abuse killings in France were carried out with guns, arguing that if authorities took away the weapons, it could reduce such deaths.
French law enforcement has been criticised for failing to quickly and adequately respond to domestic abuse complaints. The government began to treat the issue with increased urgency after the president, Emmanuel Macron, visited a domestic abuse hotline in September and observed a police officer rejecting a woman’s call for help.
Schiappa, who is overseeing the government commission, told a news conference on Tuesday that the recommendations marked an important step toward “a system of zero tolerance” for all types of domestic abuse.
The commission also urged greater awareness of the psychological effects of domestic abuse, including when victims feel so trapped in a toxic relationship that they decide to kill themselves. In 2018, 217 French women killed themselves for this reason, according to the lawyer and domestic abuse specialist Yael Muller.
Schiappa said it was important to recognise psychological and economic abuse as just as pernicious as physical blows.
“We still have an enormous amount to do to make progress against domestic violence, because for years, despite all the efforts of previous ministers, the number of femicides has not decreased,” said Schiappa.
The recommendations will now go to government ministries and France’s national assembly and senate to consider turning them into law. The commission will formally conclude its work on 25 November, the international day for the elimination of violence against women.
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic vi
olence helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia,
the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org
tains he can only support a government that serves the people.
“If the country is built with flesh and blood, if people’s freedoms and lives have to be sacrificed for ‘development’, I’d rather not have that,” he says.
“The very least I can do is to refrain from doing evil myself and to remind my colleagues not to get excessive. But they often ask: ‘So, which side are you on?’” *name has been changed to protect identity