The number of women who died in domestic violence has significantly jumped in one year, according figures released by the interior ministry. Data also reveal a rise in the number of men falling victim to domestic violence.

The number of women who died in domestic violence in France has reached alarming magnitudes, a report published by the interior ministry shows.

Domestic violence in the country rose by 20 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020.

In the period in question a total 122 French women lost their lives in physical assaults by their husbands or ex-partners, while figures also show that 21 men also died in domestic violence, the news portal CNews reported. This means that domestic violence claimed one life every other day on average in between 2020 and 2021. In the vast majority or 85 per cent of the cases, the victims were women and 86 per cent of the attackers were men, with 78 per cent of the attacks taking place in the victim’s or perpetrator’s home.

The report also reveals that only three of the female victims requested official protection, one victim was subject to a judicial review process, and two obtained restraining orders against their partners. Almost a third of the victims or 32 per cent, had already experienced similar violence before the tragic incident, France Bleu points out in an article.

Of the violent deaths recorded in 2021, 115 were murders, 24 were premeditated homicides, and 4 involved deliberate violence causing death.

Gender Equality Minister Isabelle Rome called the figures chilling, adding that despite the unprecedented efforts by the French state over the past five years, the number of femicide cases has remained rather high.

The number of murder attempts are even higher than that of attacks resulting in deaths. The authorities recorded 251 cases in 2021, a 5 percent increase compared to the previous year. The profile of the perpetrators has not changed over the years; they are typically men of French nationality, living in a relationship, between the ages of 30 and 49 or over 70 years of age. The three most important motives are that the man does not want to divorce, he is jealous, or he loses his temper after a quarrel and resorts to violence.

When a woman calls the emergency helpline to report violence, the threat she is facing must be assessed better, said Françoise Brie, director general of the French National Federation of Women’s Solidarity (FNSF). The national helpline 3919 was set up in France in early September 2019, and the news spread so quickly that it received 11 thousand calls, slightly more than 350 calls a day, by October. 59 per cent, more than half of the population know about the helpline 3919, which was hailed as a success by State Secretary for Gender Equality Marlene Schiappa.

Regretfully, domestic violence also affects children, since in almost a fifth of the cases (19 per cent), a minor is also present when the attack takes place.

In 2021, 12 children lost their lives in domestic violence and 105 children were orphaned or semi-orphaned as the outcome of 50 acts of violence.

Cases of domestic violence significantly increased in France in March 2020, during the lockdown introduced during the first surge of the coronavirus. 200 thousand cases were registered that year, with 120 attacks on average ending with death. Christophe Castaner, interior minister at the time, took to Twitter to stress that authorities continued to pay close attention to domestic violence and recommended that women at threat seek refuge in a nearby pharmacy and call the police from there.

En cette période de confinement, et donc de risque accru, la lutte contre les violences conjugales reste une priorité.
Nous devons aussi adapter nos réponses.
Grâce á @Ordre_Pharma, les victimes pourront s’adresser á leur pharmacien de quartier qui alertera les forces de l’ordre. pic.twitter.com/kHow4hrJbb

— Christophe Castaner (@CCastaner) March 27, 2020

Temporary shelters were also set up for domestic violence victims in shopping malls, State Secretary for Gender Equality Marlene Schiappa announced. Despite that, however, the number of femicide cases – the killing of a woman by her partner or ex-partner – still increased by a fifth in France between 2020 and 2021.