France to issue emergency kits for rape victims

The French government is to issue an emergency kit for rape victims in an effort to make it easier for them to pursue their attackers. A rape is committed once every eight minutes in France but there are only about 1,400 convictions per year, according to Women's Rights Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.

Women's Rights Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem AFP

A kit including an HIV test, a contraceptive, a camera to record proof and a list of doctors' addresses will be issued to hospital emergency departments and general practitioners, Vallaud-Belkacem announced on Friday.

The move has been recommended by a committee set up to draw up a fourth national plan to fight against violence against women and will be followed by other initiatives designed to make it easier for rape victims to have access to medical and judicial services.

The kit will be tried out in Paris and another French department in the spring.

About 75,000 rapes are committed in France every year - that is one every eight minutes - and 10,000 cases are filed but only about 1,400 end in convictions, Vallaud-Belkacem said.