France: preventing and addressing sexual violence against women seeking asylum.
FXB FRANCE PROFILE
The Association François-Xavier Bagnoud is registered in France, 20, rue Vignon, 75009 Paris, association loi 1901 modifiée. All donations are tax-deductible, provided they are made within France.
ETHICAL COMMITMENT, REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS
- Ethics charter
- Protection against abuse of power policy (PPAP)
- Audit report on the 2023 financial statements of FXB France
- Audit reports on previous financial statements of FXB France
INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
In 2025, FXB France operates in South Africa, Mongolia, Rwanda and Namibia with teams of 100 local professionals who work hand in hand with the communities we support. Our mission is to bring about lasting change in the countries where we operate, in order to eradicate extreme poverty, promote access to fundamental rights and social justice, and help local populations adapt to climate change.
PROJECT IN FRANCE
FXB France is committed to improving prevention, detection, and treatment of sexual violence against female asylum seekers.
Context
A study published in September 2023 (The Lancet) revealed that female asylum seekers are 18 times more likely to be raped in their host country than the general population. In addition, more than three-quarters of them had been victims of sexual violence before their arrival.
The public authorities and the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs have made the protection of migrant women from sexual violence a priority issue. However, the effective means of protection are not known. There are no studies that have comparatively assessed the effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing and appropriately managing sexual violence in this population.
Our action in France
Maison de Santé Pluriprofessionnelle
Faced with the urgency of the situation, FXB France initiated a partnership in 2024 with Dr. Jérémy Khouani's teams at the Peyssonnel Multidisciplinary Health Center (MSP) in Marseille to support migrant women who have suffered sexual violence.
This project aims to offer them psychological, medical and gynecological support.
As a first step, FXB is supporting a literature review on the prevention of sexual violence, which will serve as the basis for a European study evaluating the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary intervention with these women.
The second phase of this partnership focuses on evaluating a multidisciplinary intervention protocol for screening and managing sexual violence among women who have been in France for less than two years, and implementing it in six cities in France (Nantes, Bordeaux, Paris, Toulouse, Lyon, and Marseille).
The project is based on a rigorous, multidisciplinary scientific approach specific to the FXB methodology.
Beyond clinical action, this program helps break the cycles of trauma and precariousness that affect many women and girls, often underage mothers, who are particularly vulnerable to violence. However, the program's ambition extends beyond the national level: it aims to become a benchmark model that can be replicated across Europe and to inspire structural changes in public policies on the protection and health of migrant women.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FIRST FXB FOUNDATION IN FRANCE (1991 and 1997)
Following on from the Centre FXB de soins palliatifs à domicile (FXB Home Palliative Care Center), which was created by Albina du Boisrouvray in Valais in 1992, in 1997 she set about replicating the successful Swiss model in Paris, to enable people to die at home if they so wished.
The FXB Center in Paris offers home palliative care to people in the irreversible stages of illness, when curative medicine proves powerless. Its approach is comprehensive. On a day-to-day basis, it combines nursing care with psychological and practical support for both the sick person and their loved ones. Albina also wanted to alleviate the moral pain of patients and their families, and it was with this in mind that she set up bereavement groups, which are an indispensable pillar of the multidisciplinary team's work. In 2001, she was awarded the Légion d'Honneur, at the rank of chevalier, by the French government for her pioneering work in home palliative care.
In 2003, the Fondation Croix Saint-Simon and FXB decided to merge their structures, which led to the integration of all palliative care activities into the Fondation Croix Saint-Simon, including the François-Xavier Bagnoud documentation center, where they are pursued and developed in accordance with the principles and values that have always guided FXB's actions.
In 1991, the FXB Foundation donated a fire engine to the Lévis-Saint-Nom fire department, near Paris, some of whom were childhood friends of François-Xavier Bagnoud.