Of the victims of domestic violence reported in Portugal, 15 percent are male. It was with these men in mind that the first shelter house for men victims of domestic violence in the country was created in the Algarve, a pilot project that will be managed by the António Silva Leal Foundation.
The equipment, with a capacity to accommodate 10 people, will be similar to the ones that already exist, intended for women, and will start operating on Saturday.
The Letter of Commitment of the Casa Abrigo pilot project for men victims of domestic violence was signed this Wednesday, in Faro, in a ceremony that was attended by the Deputy Minister Eduardo Cabrita and the Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality Catarina Marcelino.
“The house will be fully operational from the 1st of October [Saturday]. It is a reception facility that will be available to the entire network that works in this area and will work in exactly the same way as those that already exist for women», said Carlos Andrade, president of the António Silva Leal Foundation.
"From the moment we welcome the victims, we give them psychological, social and health support and help to create a life project," he described.
According to the head of this IPSS, the «years of experience» working in the area of domestic violence allowed the Foundation to realize that there was a gap in the response to victims, namely males. Carlos Andrade added that, in the case of male victims, "psychological violence has a higher incidence" than when the victims are women and children.
For Eduardo Cabrita, with the launch of a Shelter for men who are victims of abuse, a taboo is being broken. Not least because the dimension of this problem is not to be overlooked. “In 15 percent of the reported cases, the victims are male. These men are in a situation of weakness or personal or family breakdown," illustrated the minister, who revealed that this is a problem that affects "a few thousand people in the country and hundreds here in the Algarve." Bearing this in mind, there are already “signed people, for whom we now have an answer”.
As a pilot project, the first year of existence of Casa Abrigo for men victims of domestic violence will serve to understand what will actually be the adhesion of the victims and «to what extent this response is suitable for its recipients».
Here, in addition to being kept safe, victims will have the right to “legal, psychological and social support assistance”. "We are going to give visibility to this problem, so that the security forces can also act with the same quality and capacity with which they do in relation to women", added the member of the Government.
The creation of equipment of this type is not, even so, the main priority of the Government and of the many institutions that work in the area of domestic violence. “This is a last resort solution. Where we have to intervene, and this is an area that we are working on, is in the preventive dimension, on the aggressor, away from the victim and their children. We are considering the changes to the law that may prove necessary», assured the member of the Government.
“Domestic violence was a hidden reality a few decades ago. We've changed a lot since then. The visibility of the issue has changed, the behavior of the security forces has changed, it has become a public crime and, above all, the way society looks at this issue has changed. Domestic violence is mostly about women and will likely continue to be so. For this, we have an integrated response, with a network of 40 shelters with the capacity to receive 800 victims”, said Eduardo Cabrita.
From Saturday onwards, there will be a safe place for men who want to free themselves from a web of abuse, in their own homes.
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