In the Crisis Room, women and children are guaranteed security, round-the-clock professional support and assistance in finding alternative permanent housing. Here they can get shelter for a period of 10 to 20 days. Then the staff of the room will redirect them to other providers of services in the field of domestic violence such as social services, healthcare and legal institutions. The facility will have four specialists, and six victims can stay in the Room at the same time.
“The Crisis Room in Lutsk is an important part of the system of counteracting and preventing gender-based and domestic violence, which the city is actively developing. We appreciate the high level of intersectoral coordination in Lutsk, which is crucial for the eradication of this type of violence. It proves that political will and determination can provide quality services to victims so that they can break the cycle of violence,” said Jaime Nadal, Jaime Nadal, Representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine.
The Crisis Rooms meet all health and safety standards, have a kitchen and everything necessary for a temporary stay, as well as adapted for people with disabilities.
"We feel the potential and ability of the cities that joined the effort to combat violence to really overcome this problem with determination at the local level,” said Tobias Thyberg, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden.
The location of the Crisis Rooms is not disclosed for security reasons. Violence survivors must contact the police or social services to reach them.
“We have clear and well-established cooperation in combating domestic violence with many services, and now we are happy to be able to provide not only psychological assistance and counselling but also save lives in critical situations. Such safe spaces are to be established in other parts of the city as well,” said Deputy Mayor Iryna Chebeliuk.
The crisis room was opened within the framework of the “Equality Springboard: Project on Social Norms Change and Gender Stereotypes Elimination for Better Resilience and Prosperity of Women and Men in Ukraine”, implemented by UNFPA Ukraine with the financial support from Sweden. Learn more about the project here.
