An increase in domestic violence has been identified by the Minister for Social Cohesion and Families Sofia Zacharaki, citing data showing that 2,124 women installed the panic button application while up to May 31, 349 used it by informing the police that they were at risk.

“The panic button app is also being administered in 44 counseling centers across the country,” Ms. Zacharaki told SKAI, clarifying that “there is no tolerance for violence.”

The minister urged women to know that “whatever happens, someone is here to hold their hand by providing assistance at many levels.”

“Preventing the worst”

The times the panic button has been activated “there has been a prevention of the worst,” Ms. Zacharaki said.

The app can be administered to women seeking help at all 44 counselling centres across the country, which any woman can go to and get free legal assistance, counselling and psychosocial support without having to go to the police in the first instance.

“As the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family,” noted Sofia Zacharaki, “we do a lot of work at the community level as well:
-With the 44 counseling centers.
-With the 15900 line where you can get the first directions and advice.
-With the 20 hostels where people can be accommodated with their children where they also receive job counselling.
-With the safe houses in cases of immediate removal from the home and short-term stays.”

In addition, the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family, Ms. Zacharaki noted, ensures womenvictims of domestic violence who have been accommodated in shelters, a shelter by paying the rent and operating costs of a house for two years. And in case they do not have a job, it ensures in cooperation with the DYPA that they find a job and ensure their economic self-sufficiency.

In the first quarter of 2024, 1,359 women called 15900

Also according to official figures cited by the Minister, the line 15900 in the first quarter of the year called 1,359 women victims of domestic violence to receive the first help in terms of counselling and guidance.

In response to questions about the profile of perpetrators and whether there is any evidence, the Minister noted: “In the demographics of domestic violence there is no discrimination. You can have a young child who has grown up with other assumptions and show such brutality to a partner but we have also received a call from an 84-year-old woman,” Sofia Zacharaki noted.

Finally, the minister announced the implementation of a large-scale counseling program for parents and children at the level of municipalities.

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