The missions of France Victimes and the associations in its network

France Victimes, the French Victim Support and Mediation Institute, was created in 1986 on the occasion of the first assembly of the fifty or so victim support associations that already existed.
France Victimes updates the details of the victim support associations in other countries; this data is available to all of the victim support associations in the network. The fundamental missions of France Victimes, the national federation of victim support associations, are to drive, coordinate and promote victim support actions and also to enter into partnerships and agreements to this end.

France Victimes’s primary objectives are:

• Defining and evaluating victim support missions,
• Coordinating and supporting victim support associations, especially through its training body,
• Raising awareness among professionals and the public concerning victim support and information,
• Hosting and running since October 2001 a national victim support number 116006 which listens to crime victims and directs them to associations close to their place of residence and to other services or competent bodies.
  

France Victimes and the victim support associations have special relationships with their institutional partners, such as the courts, public prosecutor's offices, legal advice centres, the police and constabulary, hospitals, city halls, etc.

France Victimes and numerous associations establish national or regional agreements with the banking sector, commercial organisations or transport companies; these agreements or contracts are aimed at those who are victims at their place of work.

Agreements also exist with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Policy, Sport and National Education in order to increase victims’ access to the associations’ services.

France Victimes groups together 130 victim support associations, involving 1,450 employees and volunteers. They run 850 victim welcome offices (in courts, legal advice centres, police stations, hospitals, etc.) where most of 320 000 victims are supporting.

The associations have a code of ethics and a victim support services charter that define the victim support missions, mediation, the staff’s employment status and operational relations between the associations and France Victimes.

www.france-victimes.fr (in french)

INAVEM belongs to Victim Support Europe