WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE EUROPE WAVE REPORT 2015 ON THE ROLE OF SPECIALIST WOMEN’S SUPPORT SERVICES IN EUROPE 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: Rosa Logar and the WAVE Team WAVE expert feedback and proofreading: Ardita Ramizi Bala, Carol Hagemann-White, Marceline Naudi, Branislava Marvanova and Sibylle Schweier Graphic Design: Monika Medvey Cover Image: © istock.com Place and year of publication: Vienna, January 2016 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 REPORT 2015 The outlined activities and achievements were made possible through generous funding by the: European Commission, Rights Equality and Citizenship Programme Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs and Consumer Protection Federal Ministry of Education and Women’s Affairs City of Vienna-Department of Women’s Affairs, MA 57 City of Vienna-Department of Research and Culture OAK Foundation Phillip Morris Austria GMBH Austrian Association of Cities and Towns Mediterranean Women’s Fund In 2015, WAVE was funded by: With financial support from the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union WAVE REPORT 2015 ON THE ROLE OF SPECIALIST WOMEN’S SUPPORT SERVICES IN EUROPE INDEX Index of Figures and Tables 4 FOREWORD 5 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6 2. INTRODUCTION 11 3. METHODOLOGY 14 4. NATIONAL WOMEN’S HELPLINES 17 5. WOMEN’S SHELTERS 24 6. WOMEN’S CENTRES 38 7. WOMEN’S JOURNEYS TO SPECIALIST SUPPORT SERVICES 50 8. NATIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORKS 58 9. PREVENTION 65 10. TRAINING 72 11. GOVERNMENT POLICY, FUNDING AND RECOGNITION OF THE WORK OF WOMEN’S NGOs 78 12. EMERGENCY BARRING ORDERS 85 13. SUPPORT FOR WOMEN WHOSE PARTNERS ARE IN PERPETRATOR PROGRAMMES 88 14. TABLES 90 15. APPENDICES 97 WAVE Standards for Specialist Women’s Support Services 97 References 100 Glossary 102 WAVE Members 104 National Women’s Helplines 105 REPORT 2015 3 Index of Figures and Tables FIGURE 1 National Helplines Operating 24/7 and Free of Charge ..........................................................................18 FIGURE 2 Number of European Countries with at Least One National Women’s Helpline ...............................19 FIGURE 3 Percentage of Shelter Places Missing in Europe ...................................................................................... 27 FIGURE 4 Shelters able to Provide Counselling and Support Services for Non-Residents ................................30 FIGURE 5 Shelters for Specific Groups of Survivors .................................................................................................. 31 FIGURE 6 Number of Countries where Shelters Provide Access to Specific Groups ..........................................33 FIGURE 7 Proportion of Shelters with Direct Access .................................................................................................35 FIGURE 8 Proportion of Shelters with Safety Precautions ......................................................................................35 FIGURE 9 Different Types of Women’s Centres Available in Europe .....................................................................40 FIGURE 10 Women’s Centres Providing Non-Residential Services ...........................................................................45 FIGURE 11 Women’s Networks in EU Countries and Countries outside the EU .....................................................60 FIGURE 12 Countries in Europe with at least One National Women’s Network ....................................................60 FIGURE 13 Women’s Networks in Europe – Existence, Legal Entity, National Office, and State Funding ........ 61 FIGURE 14 Number of Existing Women’s Networks receiving State Funding ........................................................63 FIGURE 15 Types of Women’s Organizations Conducting Prevention Activities throughout Europe ............... 67 TABLE 1 Overview of National Women’s Helplines in Europe ................................................................................ 7 TABLE 2 Summary of Findings on Women’s Shelters in Europe .............................................................................8 TABLE 3 Summary of Findings on Women’s Centres in Europe .............................................................................. 9 TABLE 4 Summary of Findings on National Women’s Networks in Europe .......................................................10 TABLE 5 Level of Provision of Women’s Centres and Geographical Distribution ..............................................42 TABLE 6 Level of Provision of Sexual Assault Support Services ...........................................................................44 TABLE 7 Existence of Emergency Barring Orders in Europe, and Number of Orders Issued in 2014 ...........86 TABLE 8 Cooperation between Perpetrator Programmes and Specialist Support Services for Victims ......89 TABLE 9 National Women's Helplines in 46 European Countries ........................................................................90 TABLE 10 National Women's Helplines – User Statistics .........................................................................................90 TABLE 11 National Women's Helplines in EU28 Member States ............................................................................ 91 TABLE 12 National Women's Helplines in European Countries outside the EU .................................................. 91 TABLE 13 Women’s Shelters in 46 European countries ............................................................................................92 TABLE 14 Women’s Shelters – User Statistics ............................................................................................................92 TABLE 15 Women’s Shelters in EU28 Member States ...............................................................................................93 TABLE 16 Women’s Shelters in "New" EU Member States ......................................................................................93 TABLE 17 Women’s Shelters in European Countries outside the EU .....................................................................94 TABLE 18 Women’s Shelters in "Old" EU Member States ........................................................................................94 TABLE 19 National Women's Networks in 46 European Countries .......................................................................95 TABLE 20 Women's Centres in 46 European Countries ............................................................................................95 TABLE 21 Categories of Women's Centres in 46 European Countries ..................................................................96 4 REPORT 2015 FOREWORD We are happy to present the WAVE Report 2015. The Report focuses on specialist women’s support services and the activities of women’s organizations in the area of networking, prevention and training, as well as the experiences of women during their journey to seek help – a journey that is often a difficult one resembling a hurdle race. In order to find safe shelter in one’s vicinity, one must live in a big town; in order to be entitled to legal protection, one must fulfill certain criteria, such as being married or living together with the abusive perpetrator – if one does not meet these criteria, they are out of the game. In order to be admitted to a women’s shelters, in some countries one must ‘prove’ they are a victim by reporting to the police. Such regulations, even if not established with bad intentions, have negative effects and discourage women from seeking help rather than empowering them. Such regulations are barriers and they do not help to decrease the low reporting rate in violence against women, revealed by the 2014 FRA survey on violence against women (FRA, 2014 p. 63 ff). On the contrary, they contribute to the increase in women not reporting, because women have the feeling that the system is failing them. The WAVE Report 2015 also addresses the requirement for comprehensive and coordinated policies, their imple- mentation, monitoring and evaluation, as well as the important role women’s NGOs play in this area. It is evident, that countries which have recourse to women’s NGOs and who work in close partnership with them, have been more successful in addressing the problem of gender-based violence and in protecting and supporting victims, than countries with few women’s NGOs. Our biggest concern in WAVE is that many countries in Europe still do not fulfill the minimum standards for ser- vices provision: } Only 10 out of 28 EU Members stated that their country provides a 24/7 helpline free of charge for women victims of gender-based violence. } 19,480 shelter beds are missing in the EU and 47,556 in Europe to fulfill the minimum standards of provid- ing one shelter space per 10,000 inhabitants. } Only four countries in the EU provide women’s shelters places according to the minimum standard. This needs to be changed urgently and the WAVE network will be carrying out the WAVE Step-up! Campaign in 2016 and 2017 with the goal of increasing