This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

The French government has announced a series of measures aimed at tackling domestic violence as anger grows over inaction and indifference to victims.

At least 137 women have been killed in incidents of domestic violence so far this year and protesters took to the streets at the weekend to demonstrate against the authorities’ response.

France’s National Observatory of Violence Against Women has estimated that at least 220,000 adult women suffer domestic violence every year. In 2018, official figures suggest 121 women were killed by a partner or ex-partner.

New measures include the confiscation of firearms held by anyone who is reported to the police as violent, new guidelines for police and gendarmes to evaluate the danger, and the recruitment of extra staff at police stations and gendarmeries trained to deal with domestic disputes.

'France's shame': thousands protest against gender violence Read more

After a three-month consultation, the government announced on Monday it would allocate €360m (£308m) from the budget to combat domestic violence as part of a €1bn budget set aside for gender equality.

Among the measures announced by the prime minister, Édouard Philippe, was staffing a domestic abuse hotline – the 3919 – 24 hours a day. The line received an average of 150 calls a day three months ago, a figure that has now risen to about 600 calls daily.

Philippe said rules covering doctor-patient confidentiality would be lifted so health professionals could report suspected cases of abuse that were “extremely urgent or suggested a serious risk of the violence being repeated”.

The prime minister also announced there would be more refuge places created from the beginning of next year and the creation of 26 centres to house the perpetrators of domestic violence. “It is for the author of domestic violence to leave [the home] not the victim,” he said.

A new clause covering harassment and “psychological control” is to be written into France’s criminal code, Philippe added. He admitted the authorities had not understood the scale of the problem until now but hope the measures being introduced would produce an “electric jolt”.

Last month the Assemblée Nationale approved the use of electronic tagging to ensure convicted abusers keep away from their victims, giving judges the power to decide the distance.

As part of a prevention campaign, school teachers will have to undergo obligatory training in gender equality and will be offered a simplified process for reporting suspected abuse. Secondary school pupils will also be taught about domestic violence in order to “eradicate anything that could be seen as ordinary machismo”.

The measures failed to convince feminist organisations, which claimed that without extra public money nothing would change. A leading feminist campaigner Caroline de Haas insisted the government had not set aside a centime more to combat domestic violence.

“The prime minister announces exactly the same budget allocated against violence in 2020 as in 2019. They’re not changing public policy. The domestic violence figures will not drop. I am disgusted,” de Haas tweeted.

She also suggested many of the “new” measures were not, in fact, new. “The lifting of medical secrecy is already permitted in cases where there is a danger of someone dying. Another ‘announcement’ that isn’t. Really, it is not serious,” de Haas added.

On Saturday the women’s organisation Nous Toutes claimed 150,000 people took part in protests campaigning against violence against women across France, 100,000 of those were in Paris. The official figures were lower.