Lifting obstacles: France helps women report abuse to police

By MASHA MACPHERSON and SYLVIE CORBET
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — France is launching a new process for women to formally report abuse, circumventing police stations where many victims feel uncomfortable filing such complaints. Junior Interior Minister Marlene Schiappa said alternative locations can include a friend’s home or some other place where abused women feel safe. “There are women who tell us that they don’t dare to come to a police station because they are afraid of not being welcomed,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “That’s why we are lifting one after the other, the obstacles they are facing.” An annual survey led by national statistics institute INSEE found that only 10% of victims of sexual abuse in France file a formal complaint.