Prague, Aug 26 (CTK) – A total of 2,934 people sought help in a Prague intervention centre over domestic violence in the first half of 2017, almost 500 more than in 2016, and the number of foreigners among them has risen, the city hall and the centre’s representatives have told the media.
In the given period, the police evicted 104 people from family homes in Prague over evident domestic violence. This number beat the previous record of 100 people evicted in January-June 2014.
“More and more people have been turning to the intervention centre in search of specialist help or consultation. Most often they are women facing domestic violence,” Tomas Jan, who heads the city’s Social Services Centre, of which the intervention centre is part, said.
“Most recently, we have registered such cases increasing among foreigners who became or are victims of violence on the part of a person close to them. We are happy that they trust us and are not afraid to address us and ask for help,” Jan said.
The intervention centre head Zuzana Chomova said at least one child is forced to watch most of the domestic violence cases.
“We consider this alarming, mainly because the children threatened by domestic violence fail to receive adequate specialist help due to lacking experts and services,” Chomova said.
From 2007, when the eviction from home was introduced as a measure against domestic violence, to the end of March, 2017, the police applied the measure to 11,577 cases all over the Czech Republic, most often in 2011 (1,430 cases) and least often in 2008 (679 cases).
In Prague, a total of 1,239 persons were evicted from home in the past decade.
rtj/dr
