In 2024, the pilot program “Panic Button” will be expanded to other regions of the country, the application for mobile phones (app) with which women can silently notify the Greek Police in case they experience any threat or danger to life or of their physical integrity. Panic Button is the digital service of the Greek State in the fight against violence against women.

By a joint ministerial decision of the Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kostis Hatzidakis, the Minister of Citizen Protection, Yiannis Oikonomou, the Minister of Digital Governance, Dimitris Papastergiou and the Deputy Minister of Social Cohesion and Family, Maria – Alexandras Kefala, the operation of the pilot program “Combion Panikou” » is extended geographically and henceforth applies to the areas that fall under the local jurisdiction of the General Police Departments of the Attica Region, of the regional unit of Thessaloniki and to the municipalities where the country’s police departments are based.

The application (app) is sponsored by the police departments and the counseling centers of the Network of Structures of the general secretariat of Equality and Human Rights of the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family.

“The government is leveraging new technology tools to protect all women from violence. In close cooperation with the Ministry of Citizen Protection, the Minister Mr. Yiannis Oikonomou and the Greek Police, we are moving forward with the provision of the Panic Button service in more areas of the country. We sincerely thank the Vodafone Foundation, which created and donated the application to the Greek State, which it continues to support,” said the Deputy Minister of Social Cohesion and Family Maria-Alexandra Kefala. He added that “we are expanding the application of the Panic Button to help other women in our country feel more secure, in case they experience an incident of abuse or their physical integrity is threatened. We are stepping up our efforts to break the cycle of violence and create a culture of zero tolerance for violence, wherever it occurs, whoever it comes from.”