New comprehensive legislation bill on gender-based and sexual violence (VSS): WFWF publishes its report and recommendations to address the current exclusion of foreign-born women
Paris, August 2026 — As the French government prepares to present its comprehensive bill on gender-based and sexual violence (VSS), WFWF has published an analysis of the main gaps in the current proposals in the current initiatives, together with recommendations to ensure that the future legislation effectively protects all victims, without discrimination based on their immigration status.
The report is intended for lawmakers involved in developing the future comprehensive legislation bill— the government, MPs and senators — as well as NGOs seeking to better incorporate the realities and rights of foreign-born women into their proposals and advocacy work.
The discrimination in current initiatives for comprehensive legislation on gender-based violence
WFWF welcomes the calls to strengthen the legal framework for tackling gender-based and sexual violence. In 2024, a restricted coalition of feminist and children’s rights organisations put forward 140 recommendations to tackle gender-based and sexual violence. This work contributed to the creation of a parliamentary coalition and, in December 2025, the introduction of a cross-party bill (No 2169), co-signed by more than 150 MPs and comprising 79 articles.
This momentum represents an important step towards building a comprehensive legislative framework to tackle gender-based violence. While WFWF welcomes the call for comprehensive legislation, it is concerned that the current initiatives still fail to address the diversity of victims’ circumstances. Foreign-born women, as well as people facing multiple vulnerabilities and intersecting forms of discrimination, remain insufficiently taken into account. Their lived realities, the specific forms of abuse and violence to which they may be exposed, and the particular barriers they face in accessing protection and exercising their rights are still largely absent from the proposed solutions.
Towards universal legislation that reflects the realities of all victims
For a law to be universal and inclusive, all proposed bills must identify the specific barriers that can prevent victims from exercising their rights and anticipate the potentially discriminatory effects of its provisions.
WFWF’s report identifies numerous gaps in the current initiatives. These include the failure to address forms of abuse and violence to which foreign-born women are particularly exposed, including administrative abuse within intimate relationships, coercive control, violence experienced during migration and abuse and violence in informal work, as well as the absence of any in-depth analysis of disparities in access to rights due to victims’ immigration status.
Through this analysis, WFWF draws on its expertise in immigration law and gender-based and sexual violence to identify areas of discrimination and put forward recommendations that can be directly incorporated into the forthcoming legislative process.
Seven priorities to guarantee effective protection
Women for Women France’s recommendations to the government, lawmakers, organisations and all those involved in developing the future legislation are structured around seven priorities:
- Define abuse and violence: recognise coercive control and administrative abuse in the French Criminal Code;
- Victim protections and ensuring access to safe accommodation;
- Guarantee victims independent and secure residency rights;
- Guarantee economic independence and access to social rights;
- Guarantee equal access to healthcare and appropriate support;
- Fund specialist organisations working with foreign-born women;
- Guarantee access to information and support in a language the victim understands.
Universal legislation cannot simply state that it protects all victims: it must be designed so that no victim faces additional barriers because of their nationality or immigration status.
Read WFWF’s report, in French, Loi intégrale sur les violences sexistes et sexuelles (VSS) : Comment les initiatives actuelles discriminent les femmes étrangères et nos recommandations pour y remédier, here.
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About WFWF
Women for Women France (WFWF) is the creator and manager of the national Online Multilingual Online Resource Centre for all people confronted with domestic abuse and gender-based violence in France. Our expertise is in domestic abuse, coercive control, and migrants’ rights.
WFWF has a team of multi-disciplinary experts in France who monitor current events and laws and provide research-based insights and recommendations.