Increased incidents of domestic violence reported to the Police in the first 9 months of 2021

In the first 9 months of 2021, 5,857 cases of domestic violence were reported to the Police, more than in the whole of 2020 and 2019, when 5,413 and 5,221 complaints were recorded, respectively. The above were highlighted at the online event on “Abuse and Social Perceptions”, co-organized by AID-Alternative Innovative Development and the Women’s Political Force.

In her short speech, the Deputy Minister of Demographic Policy and Family, Maria Syregela, pointed out that the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is not enough and we must fight on a daily basis to eliminate the phenomenon. He added that in our country there are 43 counseling centers that offer free legal, social and psychological support to women victims of violence. Now, they also provide employment support, as a large percentage of women who resort to these structures are unemployed.

Ms. Syregela underlined that there are 19 hostels throughout Greece, as well as the telephone line 15900.

He referred to the campaign against violence to point out that women should not pay attention to words like “sorry” and “it will not happen again”, but to the actions of the perpetrators. He stressed that the woman victim of violence should not listen to the advice of family or friends to be patient, but “she should speak, we are here to support”.

He noted that one of the four pillars of the national action plan for gender equality is the prevention and fight against violence against women, while adding that equality also has a developmental sign.

The event presented a survey conducted by AID on a sample of 252 people, the vast majority of whom are women (83%) graduates of universities and technical colleges or hold a master’s degree (80%). The survey shows that 82% of the respondents consider harassment and abuse to be bodily harm and 87% to consider non-consensual sexual intercourse.

However, only 31% consider the non-access of women to family bank accounts as harassment and abuse and 31% neither.

55% consider the control of social contacts as harassment and abuse, while 21% characterize it as aggression and 14% as possessiveness and psychological violence.

Almost half of the respondents (49% corresponding to 122 people) stated that they had been victims or witnesses of abuse or harassment. However, only 30 people filed a complaint.

As a deterrent to not reporting incidents of harassment or abuse, participants reported a lack of evidence (84%), a resurgence of events (73%) and dismissal (70%).

Only 12% said they were more or less aware of the legislation that protects victims of sexual harassment and abuse.

The majority (58.3%) answered that they do not know support structures for victims of harassment and abuse in their city and 23% answered positively.

Regarding the me too movement, 47% answered that it has helped a lot in talking about such issues, 17% very much and 25% mediocre.

The event was addressed by the representative of the General Police Directorate of Thessaloniki Kyriaki Kademidou, the psychologist Ourania Rapti and the juvenile educator Fenia Papakonstantinou, from AID, the lawyer Gianna Panagopoulou and the journalists Synthia Sapika and Dyryna Garamiki Politiki.