PARIS, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- A new study finds that 10 percent of violent deaths in France are due to violence between couples.
Of those deaths, 80 percent were due to a male partner killing a female one.
The other 20 percent were authored by women.
Published by the French government Wednesday, the numbers account only for some 1,800 violent deaths in which the author has been identified. The study looked at the period between 2003 and 2004.
On Wednesday, Catherine Vautrin, France's junior minister for Parity and Social Cohesion, outlined a series of measures to combat domestic violence. Among them: Allowing battered women to go to "caretaker" families paid for by the state; more help for those committing violent acts and psychological and other aid for battered women currently underway in three pilot sites.
Domestic violence has also been a major issue in neighboring Spain.
The government of Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has made fighting domestic violence a top priority.
