Shelters for elderly women victims of domestic violence opened today | Elderly

The National Support Network for Victims of Domestic Violence (RNAVVD) has two new residential structures for elderly women, a government promise inaugurated today and which includes 80 places.

In a statement, the office of the Deputy Minister and Parliamentary Affairs, Ana Catarina Mendes, states that this is a “strengthening of the response and support for elderly women, who are often less visible in the prevention and protection system for victims of domestic violence “.

The two residential structures have a total of 80 spaces, one in the district of Setúbal and the other in the district of Viseu.

“This is an initiative – promised by the guardianship – that results from a collaboration between different areas of the Government, (…) with the purpose of creating a response and support for elderly women, who are often less visible in the prevention and protection of victims of domestic violence”, the statement reads.

The initiative brings together several areas of the Government, including the Parliamentary Affairs office, the Equality and Migration department, and the Territorial Cohesion and Labor, Solidarity and Social Security offices, with the Deputy Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Ana Catarina Mendes, and the Secretary of State for Equality and Migrations, Isabel Almeida Rodrigues, inaugurating these two shelters today.

Speaking to the Lusa agency, Ana Catarina Mendes pointed out that this is “an innovative response” and highlighted that since January there have been 276 reports of domestic violence against people over the age of 65, adding that this has been a growing phenomenon, for the which the Government tried to find an answer.

“Not only in those proximity responses that exist, but also a response beyond prevention, a response that can take care of these people and remove these people, even temporarily, from the aggressor’s space and try to find new answers for these people”, he defended.

He highlighted that last year around 3,400 people over 65 filed complaints about domestic violence.

The Deputy Minister of Parliamentary Affairs said she hopes that this is a process that “does not end here” and that “more responses of this nature can be opened across the country”.

These two shelters begin operating in April and, according to the minister, “the estimate is that the vacancies will be filled immediately”.