Director of Trait d’Union Jean-Marie Thevenet (left) addresses a gathering of French Quarter residents in Maison de Quartier on Thursday.
MARIGOT–Association Centre Symphorien d’Insertion (CSI) organized an information meeting in Maison de Quartier, French Quarter, on Thursday afternoon with representatives of the new victim’s association Trait d’ Union France Victim 978, formed after the hurricanes of September 2017.
Director of Trait d’Union Jean-Marie Thevenet, assisted by English and Spanish translators, explained to a large gathering of French Quarter residents how the association can help them and which services are available.
Thevenet began by explaining Trait d’ Union, located in the French Quarter branch of Solidarity and Families, is an association to assist victims, and not a victim’s association. There are 130 victim aid associations in France. Trait d’Union is part of a network called France Victim. The three main missions of Trait d’Union revolve around judiciary, social and psychological matters.
“What we do is inform you of your rights, we can guide you with social problems and disputes with neighbours, abuse and violence, theft, find legal assistance and support you in psychological matters,” said Thevenet. “Our first mission is to give you the right information to make a complaint, to go to the right people or departments to get the help you need.”
The importance of registering a complaint at the Gendarmerie, depending on the nature, was emphasized to be sure an incident or problem is recorded for later referral.
“We can also assist you in the court if you don’t have a lawyer, to understand the proceedings when it comes to obtaining justice,” Thevenet added. “And since Hurricane Irma, associations to help victims are also obliged to help victims of natural disasters. Persons who have been traumatized by the hurricanes can have counselling. We have a special phone number to request a psychological consultation.
“Twice a week, at the branch of Solidarity and Families in French Quarter, and soon in the future Maison de Services au Publiques (MSP), there is an office open to receive you on Monday morning and Friday morning. The office has legal counsellors and a social services assistant. The MSP in French Quarter will have some of the main services that are available in Marigot, such as social security, Caisse Allocation d’Famille (CAF), employment office etcetera. An MSP is already open in Sandy Ground.”
Regarding housing, and the rights of tenants in hurricane-damaged apartments, Thevenet said the French law protects the tenant in terms of demanding a lower rent if the apartment is damaged.
“When you rent an apartment, you sign a lease with the landlord for a monthly fee in rent. That amount cannot go up beyond a small percentage annually.”
Trait d’ Union can also assist in obtaining renewals of resident permits issued before the hurricanes to access social services, as the Préfecture has a backlog of applications to deal with.
President of CSI Marie-Paule Rousseau, said it was very important to have this Trait d’Union information meeting.
“Since the hurricane, the population has been coming to my office daily with their problems. So, the message is stop coming to my office, because CSI is not the one to deal with those problems. That’s why Trait d’ Union is here to help. The people here today do have difficulties and I hope this information helps them.”
Rousseau said the next information meeting will be about violence between married couples, and domestic violence generally.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/74997-csi-organises-information-meeting-with-trait-d-union
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