The current operator of the 3919 helpline for women victims of violence called on the government on Friday, January 15 to give up a competition to designate the structure that will continue to provide this service.
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This procedure is indeed a "
quantitative
" and "
mercantile
" approach, deplores the National Federation of Women Solidarity (FNSF).
"
Mainly focused on quantitative aspects, this (public) market raises fears of a major deterioration in the aid and support provided to women victims of violence
", denounce the FNSF and several feminist or fundamental rights organizations, which have called it provided their support in a joint press release.
This public procurement procedure, launched in mid-December, should lead within a few months to a new legal framework for line 3919, created in 1992 by the FNSF, which has managed it since then.
This change must go hand in hand with the extension of the hours of the crisis line, which must in future be open 24 hours a day and accessible to people who are deaf or have speech impairments.
Currently the FNSF is linked to the State - which finances 80% of the line's budget - by an agreement of objectives and means.
But the government says that a tendering procedure is essential for legal reasons, because the line will henceforth be assimilated to a public service - since the State will define the objectives and the modalities, and will finance it 100%. .
The minister responsible for gender equality, Elisabeth Moreno, had specified in November that the FNSF had "
perfectly the legitimacy to respond to this market
".
The details of the call for tenders, made public on December 15, however, revived the concerns of the FNSF.
According to her, "
the criteria put forward for the choice of a service provider are essentially quantitative (duration and quantity of calls) and do not take into account the quality of listening
".
The procedure "is
a totally mercantile approach
," said the president of the FNSF, Dominique Guillien-Isenmann.
She also believes that "
the time is particularly ill-chosen
" for this reform, while the number of calls from women in distress exploded during the two confinements.
Under these conditions, the FNSF is for the moment not even sure to be a candidate, she explained: “
of course we would like to continue, but not at any cost.
By becoming a state provider, we would lose our soul
”.
If the government were to award the contract to another operator, it could be forced to change the number, the FNSF being the owner of “
3919
”, Guillien-Isenmann said.
A hypothesis however refuted in advance by the services of Moreno, for whom there is "
no question of changing
" a number whose notoriety has greatly increased since the Grenelle.
