Harassment: the Audiovisual Romand agrees against abuse

How was this agreement born, what are the origins?

It all started two years ago during a harassment: audiovisual romand agrees against round table organized by Cinéforom in Locarno on diversity and harassment. Moreover, Upstream, to prepare for this meeting, I had led a consultation with actors, technicians and technicians. Similarly, The photograph of the sector that came out was quite negative.

Concretely, what will this device change?

It first allows you to strengthen prevention. Furthermore, As producers. However, we must say aloud, facing the whole team, that moral and sexual harassment, sexist, racist or discriminatory words and behaviors are not tolerated. In addition, Then, we integrate very clear clauses in the employment contracts, which provide for sanctions. However, Above all, we set up an alert and listening procedure. In addition, Each person on filming will have confidential and anonymous access to a person of external business confidence (PCE). Furthermore, These are trained psychologists. Nevertheless, mediators, paid by producers, who can receive an appeal, explain harassment: audiovisual romand agrees against their rights to the person and propose mediation. Furthermore, Information only goes back to production if the victim wishes.

The Charter. the Convention refer to the federal law on equality between men and women, the Civil Code, the Code of Obligations or the Criminal Code. Are these reminders to the law, which no one is supposed to ignore, necessary?

It may seem surprising. but the will of this charter – and this convention – is to create a new standard of production. Our branch is heterogeneous. with very large production companies and very small associations, in which is a director who hires three friends. It therefore needed a legal upgrade, for all.

Can a report lead to an interruption of filming?

This is the central question. Stop a forty -day shoot, the time, for example, harassment: audiovisual romand agrees against of a procedureis financially impossible for many producers. The objective is to avoid this by acting upstream. This is why we must focus our efforts as much as possible on the prevention and awareness of teams. The agreement also provides for compulsory training. We can also hope that once the protocols in place. insurance will accept to participate in a shooting stop as they do for any other loss.

The SSR or streaming platforms are not part of the signatories of the agreement. For what?

This initiative starts from French -speaking Switzerland. The SSR, like the Federal harassment: audiovisual romand agrees against Office of Culture, followed very closely all the writing of the Charter and the Agreement. They are very happy that this is putting in place, but as a national price, cannot sign a regional agreement. The next step is therefore to present this model during the sole days in January. so that it is adopted at the national level.

What are the sanctions incurred by a producer in the event of a breach?

The sanction arrives very, very late. It is not a witch hunt. A producer will never be sanctioned because a case of harassment appeared on his shoot. The sanction only intervenes in the event of a breach of procedural obligations. Concretely, to obtain funding from Cinéforom, a production company will have to provide its protection plan. If she does not do so, she does not receive funding. If. later, harassment: audiovisual romand agrees against a case is reported and it turns out that the promised protocol has not been set up, the control commission will request accounts. It is only if the producer still refuses to correct the shot that a sanction can be pronounced. You really have to be bad will to get there.

How much does the implementation of this agreement cost and how did producers react?

As always when new rules are implemented, some producers have expressed reserves. “Producing a film is already very demanding, why adding obligations?” Asked. I understand these concerns, but our responsibility is to protect teams and productions. The consequences of a case of harassment are much heavier than preventive measures. Thanks to the support of French -speaking communities. Safe Spaces Culture (Editor’s note: an association that works for workplaces and free harassment, mobbing or discrimination training) supports harassment: audiovisual romand agrees against the first costs linked to the PCEs. For producers, the impact is almost zero, while the collective benefit is immense.

The agreement will come into force in January 2026. The next step will be to convince your German -style counterparts. who are content – for the moment – of a non -binding code of conduct.

Their code of conduct is a moral commitment, without sanction. In French -speaking Switzerland, our agreement is based on clear and compulsory protocols. To convince, we bet on the creation of a virtuous circle. Technicians who have worked under these secure conditions will refuse to go on shoots where the agreement is not respected. In addition. a Swiss-German production which will want to finance Cinéforom will have to comply with our rules and set up the protocol. We therefore hope, little by little, that our standard will spread harassment: audiovisual romand agrees against throughout the profession, in Switzerland.