New shelter for victims opens in Espoo

A new shelter has been opened at Järvenperä in Espoo for the women who were victims of violence.

The shelter named Turvakoti Pellas is a practical step against violence against women and one of the ways of offering the victims help, said an official press release.

Establishing more such shelter homes regionally is one of the goals of the National Action Plan to prevent domestic and other types of violence against women.

The Action Plan was drawn up by an intersectoral committee in consultation with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Committee for Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

The committee visited Espoo on Tuesday.

The Action Plan contains 46 measures recommended for implementation by different administrative branches. The measures focus on preventing violence proactively. The plan also contains a number of obligations for different administrative bodies concerned to protect and help the victims of violence and bring the perpetrators of such violence to justice.

In addition to such shelter homes, a number of Sexual Assault Support Centres (Seri Support Centres) will be set up in various locations across the country -- at Turku and Tampere during the first phase of implementation of the Action Plan and at Oulu and Kuopio during the later phase. The Seri Support Centre set up in Helsinki has already been offering helps to the victims of sexual crimes.

The other means of preventing violence against women and domestic violence recommended by the Action Plan include improving data collection, training and communication on the issues. Under the Action Plan, professionals have been receiving training to become better aware of their duties in such cases, for example, notifying the authorities concerned in the event of a female genital mutilation. They are also being made familiar with their right, notwithstanding the secrecy provisions, to inform the police of any risk of domestic violence.

Police officers, prosecutors, and judges are also being trained to deal with the victims of violence in a sensitive manner and to improve their knowledge of resulting trauma, while asylum-seekers and immigrants have been receiving integration services and information on non-discrimination and equality between the genders.

According to the report of 2014 survey, 30 per cent Finnish women aged between 18 and 74 had experienced physical or sexual violence committed by their present or former partners.