What Are Governments Doing to Prevent Domestic Violence? – Council of Europe Paves the Way

WNN  editorial release – WNN Features

Keynote speech by Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

At the Council of Europe Conference on “Support Services for Women Victims of Violence”

Strasbourg, 6 December 2007

A week ago I visited a refuge in Cork, Ireland, for women who needed shelter against violence at home. Here women had been received since the mid-seventies for a couple of days or up to several weeks, in most cases together with their children. This refuge had chosen not to operate under secret address but there was always a police car outside. There had been incidents of brutal attacks against the premises.This refuge was now faced with new challenges as a consequence of the immigration to Ireland. The pressure had increased during recent years; language and cultural barriers had made the work more complex. However, the commitment of the staff and volunteers in this centre made it still work.

I talked with an immigrant from Hungary who had come here with her little daughter when the crisis had struck the family and the husband had become violent. The time in the refuge had given her perspective and self-confidence, she had been helped to establish her rights and in her case the marriage could be healed. She was now on a visit to thank the staff and reconnect to those who had become her friends for life.

I have similar experiences from several countries I have visited. The shelters are extremely important as a refuge; they are often run by voluntary organisations and often with economic support from local authorities. Another typical pattern nowadays is that a number of the guests are from other countries.

This was also the case with the shelter I visited in Graz in late May. They had a confidential address and other security arrangements to prevent any risk of gate-crashing. Again, this was a well-run institution in a home-like atmosphere. The problem they raised was that bureaucratic rules for the grants did not allow them to retain a guest more than a set period of time. Typically, the staff now considered to pay themselves for the continued stay of a women whose time was up but the crisis still unresolved.

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