It’s a figure that makes Eure shudder.
In 2023 in the Normandy department, almost half of acts of attacks on the physical integrity of people (AVIP) - including "physical violence, threats of violence and sexual violence" - concern intra-family violence.
Exactly 3044 incidents recorded out of 6451, or 82 victims per day, mostly women and mostly in rural areas.
Figures up 26.2% between 2022 and 2023.
In the department, several systems already exist to accommodate people who are victims of violence within the home.
“Our first priority is welcoming the victims,” recalls the prefect of Eure Simon Babre.
In all police stations, we have trained police officers who specialize in welcoming victims of domestic violence, so that both the reception and then the quality of the investigation are of the best possible quality, to have results in terms of repression of perpetrators.
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There is also, within the Eure-Seine hospital center, in Évreux, a cell called CASEVA.
Made up of forensic doctors to characterize injuries, psychologists and general practitioners who cooperate to take care of a victim, “CASEVA is also at the forefront of welcoming children with a Mélanie room.
This room, specially designed for children with toys and stuffed animals, cameras and other recording systems hidden behind one-way glass, will help trained professionals take care of children and provide them with supports to better describe the acts of which they were victims.
“When we are elected locally, we are not necessarily aware of what exists (in terms of prevention and action around domestic violence), we discover things as we go along and, very often, we do not "is not equipped to respond correctly to these situations", however, testifies Bernard Aubry, the mayor of Harcourt, a town of a thousand inhabitants about thirty kilometers northwest of Évreux.
To try to provide an additional response and fill this lack of knowledge of the tools in place, the prefect of Eure signed a partnership this Friday with the association of rural mayors of the department, in order to apply the ERRE program (Elected Rural Relay of Equality) in the territory.
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“We are going to send the letter co-signed by the prefect and myself to all the mayors of the municipalities in the region,” explains Laurence Bussière, president of the Association of Rural Mayors of Eure.
Within municipal councils, elected officials will be invited, by this letter, to be trained and to become referents.
» These ERRE referents, numbering around a thousand in France today, are responsible for implementing awareness and prevention actions, redirecting victims of violence towards suitable local structures or associations likely to help them, in order to better promote their rights and fight against the violence perpetrated.
To stem this violence, the Eure prefecture wishes to look into the issue of addictive behavior, including within the home.
“The overall prevention policy against domestic violence in our department must really involve the prevention of addictions, alcohol, narcotics,” explains Simon Babre.
Slippages in family units seem to appear a lot, or in any case take on proportions, with physical violence and injuries among the victims, in contexts involving alcohol or drugs.
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Behaviors more often observed in families far from employment or culturally or socially isolated.
In Harcourt this Friday February 16 and Saturday February 17, it is a local association which is taking up the subject.
The ATCPH, for Association Tourisme, Culture, Patrimoine Harcourt, is organizing two days of workshops, conferences and debates to challenge elected officials and the general public on this issue of violence within the family.
They will be followed, Saturday afternoon, by the performance of the show “Enfance bonne” by the actress Antonella Questa.
Empathy workshops to revive vigilance
“Culture brings a welcome openness towards others, which are often responsible for inappropriate and unacceptable behavior,” claims Annie Gorju, of the ATCPH.
The artist, who draws on the theory of black psychology, imagined a tale where the questions of obedience, the expression of one's emotions and listening to oneself and others are called into question to rethink the place of everyone, especially children, within the family.
Before her show, she runs two workshops with elected officials and members of associations to enhance their empathy skills.
In the form of a game, it revives the attention, listening and vigilance of the participants, always with the aim of reminding them of the importance of empathy as a first response.
Another highlight of the event was a conference on the fight against conflicts led by Rachida Laoufi-Saber.
The ERRE program delegate gives the floor to local elected officials and associations, reviews existing processes and pathways and provides reassurance to help free the floor.
“A denunciation alone will never lead to conviction,” recalls a participant in the room, “but it serves as an alert to then take charge” of a home in difficulty to prevent the situation from degenerating.
“What we want is not to have to do the 17th, because that means that the person is in danger, but to act in advance.
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The ACTPH welcomes the public on Saturday February 17 at the Harcourt nursing home (Eure), from 9 a.m. to noon, before the Antonella Questa show at the Harcourt Church, at 2:30 p.m.