New shelter for domestic violence victims opens in Minsk
Women in Minsk can come with children to the new shelter when running away from violence at home.
It was opened by the international public organization Gender Perspectives as part of a joint Belarusian-Austrian project.
As the PR manager of this organization Svyatlana Matskevich told BelaPAN, the shelter is located in a three-room apartment with everything necessary for a living. The shelter can accomodate three women with children, and now it is home to five people.
Women may remain in the shelter for the period of one to three months. They are assisted by a psychologist, a lawyer and specialist in social work, not only for the duration of stay in the shelter but later as well. If a woman urgently comes to the shelter, she is given money, food and medications.
To get to the shelter, please contact the hotline for victims of domestic violence: 8-801-100-8-801.
According to experts, the problem of domestic violence in Belarus remains relevant and shelters like this are lacking. Today, there are only four such shelters - three in Minsk and one in Lida. In addition, at the territorial social services centers there are 74 so-called crisis rooms, but you cannot stay there around the clock.
Meanwhile, analysis of the victims' hotline calls indicates the relevance of this problem for Belarus. In 95% of cases the victims are women, a third of them - at the age of 27-40, and the role of the aggressor is performed by man, often a husband or ex-husband of the victim, in 86% of cases.
