A healthy family is one without violence

For UNFPA, the UN Fund for Population and International Center "La Strada" November started with an event that promises optimism and a warm atmosphere. On November 2, at the State News Agency "Moldpres”, a press conference launched the National Awareness Campaign "A healthy family is one without violence" and a new service of the Center - Hotline for Women 0 8008 8008.

The campaign "A healthy family is one without violence”, the sixth (within the most relevant) initiated during the past eight years of activity, aims to cultivate among people the attitude of ZERO TOLERANCE towards family violence and includes several informative and public awareness activities - social advertising spots running on national and local TV stations (click here rom, rus), distribution of informative materials within the population regarding the causes and consequences of domestic violence, other elements of informing and prevention.

— Through the awareness campaign "A healthy family is one without violence" we intended to encourage women suffering from domestic violence to overcome their fear, shame and address specialists by calling the Center’s Hotline for women, says Daniela Misail-Nichitin, Vice President International Center "La Strada". It is important for abused women in the family to know that they are not alone and that they can rely on specialists. Calling the Hotline, they can benefit of psychological counseling, emotional support, through which we can make them understand that a woman is actually not guilty of violence, but is in fact, responsible for her own safety and that of her children. We can help women become more self-confident and we can guide them to ask for assistance from specialized services. It is also necessary that the community, public and professional groups, especially policemen, doctors, social workers, would support the women in this regard, getting involved more actively in the fight against violence.

A healthy family is one without violence is the message which is the basis of policies of the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family. "We welcome the partnership of international organizations in preventing and combating domestic violence and assume full responsibility for their display, said Valentina Buliga, Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family, at the press conference. Through this campaign we want to raise public awareness, but also to strengthen institutional capacities at the level of local public authority, the Government and Parliament in order to reduce cases of domestic violence in Moldova.”

In the same context, Eugenia Benigni, Advisor Program Combating Human Trafficking and Gender, the OSCE Mission to Moldova, welcomed the efforts of the Moldovan authorities in adopting the Law on preventing and combating domestic violence. "We appreciate the fact that they were receptive to recommendations of international organizations in developing this law. Moldova already has a good law, what is left to do is to ensure its practical application. We are glad that a month ago was applied in practice the first order of protection." Eugenia Benigni reiterated that according to studies undertaken by the Council of Europe, expenses for treating the consequences of domestic violence are much higher than those needed to prevent this scourge. Moreover, a number of global surveys in EU countries, aimed to assess the extent of domestic violence, shows that from one fifth to one quarter of women are subjected to physical violence at least once during life, and more than one tenth of women had experienced sexual experiences through the use of force. According to studies conducted in several countries, between 12% and 15% of women were subjected to abuse in the family after they reached 16 years.

Research shows that in Moldovan every fourth woman is a victim of domestic violence, whether physical, sexual, psychological or economic. A recent evaluation of the International Center "La Strada" shows that when asked why they do not ask for support, 35% of women respond "I was ashamed"; 23% say "I do not think anyone can help me" or "I did not know where I could address”; 16% admit that "I was afraid"; 38% of interviewed women testified that they would like “... to speak with an unknown person who does not know me, in order to say about my problems” (click here) In this context, women's Hotline 0 8008 8008 is designed to respond the requests of women suffering from domestic violence.

It is important to mention that by ratifying the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which has its 30th anniversary this year; Moldova has undertaken a range of obligations to combat discrimination of women

The awareness campaign "A healthy family is one without violence" takes place within the "Protection and empowerment of victims of human trafficking and domestic violence”, developed in partnership with the Government of Moldova and supported by the Government of Japan and the UN Fund for Human Security. The campaign has the support of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Kingdom of Denmark.