WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE EUROPE WAVE COUNTRY REPORT 2017 THE SITUATION OF WOMEN’S SPECIALIST SUPPORT SERVICES IN EUROPE COUNTRY REPORT 2017 1 IMPRINT Publisher: WAVE – Women against Violence Europe, Bacherplatz 10/6, A-1050 Vienna WAVE Information Centre: Monday–Thursday, 9:00–17:00 Phone: +43-1-548 27 20 Fax: +43-1-544 08 20 24 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.wave-network.org ZVR: 601608559 Authors: Stephanie Futter-Orel and the WAVE Team WAVE expert feedback and proofreading: Hilary Fisher, Marceline Naudi, Marcella Pirrone and Rosa Logar Graphic Design: Monika Medvey Cover Image: © istock.com Place and year of publication: Vienna, March 2018 This publication has been produced with the financial support of the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Women against Violence Europe (WAVE) and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission. WAVE COUNTRY REPORT 2017 The outlined activities and achievements were made possible through generous funding by the: Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union Federal Ministry for Health and Women Austria Federal Ministry for Labour, Social Affairs and Consumers Protection Austria Municipality of Vienna, the Department for Women’s Affairs (MA57), Austria OAK Foundation Philip Morris Austria GmbH The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women With financial support from the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union Acknowledgements The WAVE Country Report 2017 was written by the WAVE Office staff under the guidance and supervision of Stephanie Futter-Orel, Executive Manager of the WAVE Office and Net- work. We would like to thank the WAVE Board for sharing their valuable expertise and reviewing the content of the report. Last but not least, we wish to express our deepest grat- itude to the members of the WAVE Advisory Board, i.e. country delegates and co-delegates, for investing their time and efforts in providing country-specific data and information sole- ly for the purpose of this report. WAVE COUNTRY REPORT 2017 THE SITUATION OF WOMEN’S SPECIALIST SUPPORT SERVICES IN EUROPE INDEX Index of Tables 4 1. INTRODUCTION 5 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7 3. METHODOLOGY 12 4. TABLES 14 5. NATIONAL WOMEN’S HELPLINES 24 6. WOMEN’S SHELTERS 29 7. WOMEN’S CENTRES 30 8. COUNTRY PROFILES 35 9. BIBLIOGRAPHY 110 10. LIST OF ACRONYMS 113 11. GLOSSARY 114 12. LIST OF NATIONAL WOMEN'S HELPLINES 116 13. LIST OF WAVE MEMBERS 118 3 Index of Tables TABLE 1 Overview of National Women’s Helplines in Europe .............................................................................. 8 TABLE 2 Overview of findings on women’s shelters in Europe ............................................................................ 9 TABLE 3 Summary of Findings on Distribution of Women’s Centres in Europe ............................................. 11 TABLE 4 National Women’s Helplines in EU Member States (2016) ..................................................................14 TABLE 5 National Women’s Helplines in European Non-EU Countries (2016) ................................................15 TABLE 6 Women’s Shelters in Europe (46 Countries, 2016) .................................................................................16 TABLE 7 Women’s Shelters in EU Member States (2016)...................................................................................... 17 TABLE 8 Women’s Shelters in European Non-EU Countries (2016) ....................................................................18 TABLE 9 Women’s Centres in EU Member States (2016) ......................................................................................20 TABLE 10 Women’s Centres in European Non-EU Countries (2016) .................................................................... 21 TABLE 11 National Action Plans addressing VAWG in place in EU Member States (2016) .............................22 TABLE 12 National Action Plans addressing VAWG in place in European Non-EU Countries (2016) ...........23 COUNTRY REPORT 2017 4 1. INTRODUCTION About WAVE For the past 20 years the WAVE Network – has been in a unique position to address and prevent violence against women (VAW) and their children. Founded in 1994 as part of the Austrian Women’s Shelter Network, it has been INTRODUCTION an independent association since 2014 and currently has 130 members in 46 European countries. Our members mainly encompass NGOs which are either individual women’s specialist services or networks working against VAW, academics and survivors of VAW. WAVE is still the only European wide network focusing exclusively on gen- der-based violence (GBV) and its work continues to be of vital importance. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) survey on VAW in 2014, based on interviews with 42,000 women across the 28 Member States of the European Union, demonstrated that one out of three women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15. This amounts to 62 million women in Europe1. Council of Europe data suggests that at least 12 women are killed by gender-related violence in Europe every day.2 Worldwide one in every three women is affected by domestic violence and women aged 15–44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, car accidents, war and malaria combined, according to World Bank data3. Many women’s (and children’s) lives are saved every year by women’s specialist services that work against VAW by providing vital support-services such as advocacy, legal support, emergency accommodation, ther- apeutic services, etc. By connecting women’s specialist services, building their capacity and lobbying policy makers, WAVE amplifies the voices of women survivors of VAW and the impact of the organisations supporting them. This enables us to influence and change VAW policies, raise general awareness about VAW and strengthen women’s specialist services. WAVE’s key strategic aims are: } Improving the availability, quality, accessibility and sustainability of women’s specialist services for all women. } Raising awareness of, and collecting data on VAW to promote the attainment of human rights of affected wom- en and their children, particularly in relation to the importance of women’s specialist services. } Lobbying to prevent and end VAW. These are some examples of how WAVE’s work on a European level provides a unique added value in the efforts to end VAW: ✔ Building the capacity of women’s specialist services through multidisciplinary trainings, study visits, networking and learning opportunities at the annual WAVE Conference. ✔ Raising awareness about VAW amongst government stakeholders and the wider public through the WAVE Step Up Campaign, events and regular social media activities. ✔ As the key European expert on VAW, WAVE’s expertise is regularly sought by academics, journalists, researchers and government stakeholders who develop policies on VAW. ✔ WAVE established the only European-wide data collection on women’s specialist services and their service us- ers, which demonstrates the impact of VAW and the value of women’s specialist services. The DCT also shows how data from women’s specialist services, can complement official government data on VAW or even depict quite a different picture. This data is used in WAVE publications, during national/international meetings and for campaigning purposes. ✔ WAVE regularly contributes its expertise on an international level, as it is invited to key conferences and meet- ings e.g. the UN Commission on the Status of Women4. ✔ WAVE’s multidisciplinary collaboration with agencies and networks beyond our membership limits (e.g. Euro- pean Women’s Lobby, PICUM, Working with Perpetrators European Network) ensures a holistic and feminist response to VAW on European level and avoids duplication of work. 1 FRA Violence Against Women EU-wide survey 2014, factsheet & full technical report can be found via this link: http://fra.europa.eu/en/pub- lication/2014/violence-against-women-eu-wide-survey-main-results-report 2 Council of Europe https://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/opinion-articles/-/asset_publisher/qk0cwIowET3l/content/fighting-violence- against-women-must-become-europe-s-priority?desktop=false 3 http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence/situation.shtml 4 WAVE has ECOSOC consultative status COUNTRY REPORT 2017 5 The WAVE Data Collection Tool (DCT) and Country Report The WAVE DCT has been developed since 2013 and is based on the minimum standards for administrative data collection on VAW, which WAVE developed within the framework of the EU DAPHNE project PROTECT II in 2013. The DCT is based on the provisions of the Istanbul Convention Article 11 “Data Collection and Research” and is available since 2015 in the form of an online data collection tool (previously we collected data via word question- naires) and provides up-to-date statistics and information about the situation of women’s specialist services in Europe. The aim of the DCT is to provide a comprehensive overview about the availability and value of women’s specialist services such as women’s shelters, helplines and centres in Europe. This overall picture is an important indicator of state response to preventing and combating violence against women and the implementation (or gaps therein) of key international legal frameworks such as the Istanbul Convention. The WAVE office works together with WAVE Delegates and Co-Delegates