A successful international project of the Czech Government Office on the prevention of domestic and sexualised violence is coming to an end. The final conference, Violence Can Be Stopped, presented the results of four years of cooperation in the first half of April, including training hundreds of police officers and other victim assistance professions and thousands of students in the prevention of domestic and sexualised violence. In 2022, the project won first place in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion category of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) awards.

The leading force of the project was the Department of Gender Equality of the Office of the Government, with the participation of the Norwegian organization Alternativa to Violence and Czech NGOs.

"Over a thousand trained persons who come into contact with victims of domestic violence. More than 8 thousand pupils who have been through our educational workshops in schools. This project is a prime example of the practical and positive impact on strengthening the system of prevention of domestic and sexualised violence," commented Klára Laurenčíková Šimáčková, Government Commissioner for Human Rights, on the results of the project.

"In the project we focused on some of the most painful areas of the existing system of violence prevention and victim assistance. In addition to training the police and other professions that come into contact with victims, I consider educational activities directly in primary and secondary schools to be essential. Our workshops have been attended by over 8,000 pupils and their positive feedback, as well as the feedback of teachers, confirms that there is a huge demand for the topic of sexualised violence and sex education today," adds Radan Šafařík, Director of the Department for Gender Equality.

"Alternativ til Vold has been working with the Office of Government Affairs for over a decade to improve assistance to victims of domestic violence. I am glad that I can transfer the experience I gained in Norway working with the topic of violence through the project to the Czech Republic. The creation of the Czech version of the educational film Zuřivec (Fury), the publication of the book Violence Can Be Stopped and the hundreds of trained professionals contribute significantly to the prevention of violence in Czech society and to more sensitive assistance to victims," says Barbora Jakobsen, clinical psychologist from the Norwegian organisation Alternativ til Vold.

"In addition to the project, systemic measures are essential for long-term assistance to victims. That is why we are now focusing on preparing a new law on domestic violence. This will bring a uniform definition of domestic violence, improve protection for victims in misdemeanour proceedings and extend the eviction of a violent person from a common home from ten to 14 days. The law is now being discussed by the Government's Legislative Council and I believe that it will soon be approved by the Government. Adequate and sustainable funding for specialised services and programmes for perpetrators of violence is also important. The new programming period of the EEA and Norway Grants is currently being prepared, so I will strive to ensure that assistance to victims of domestic violence continues to be one of the areas supported," adds Klára Laurenčíková Šimáčková.

The conference featured presentations summarizing both the four-year cooperation on the project and the possibilities for future cooperation.

 

What did the project also achieve?

•   Cooperation with the Police of the Czech Republic has been a great success: we have trained over 250 police officers on the issue of domestic and sexualised violence and online violence with regard to particularly vulnerable victims. The vast majority of the police participants found the seminars very useful.

•   We have also trained hundreds of officials and teaching staff in violence prevention. We have held workshops in schools for 8.5 thousand pupils and students on the prevention of sexual violence. We published methodological manuals and workbooks for public authorities and schools.

•  We have published the second edition of Násilí je možné zastavit (Violence Can Be Stopped) book, which explains the whole spectrum of the psychology of violence and illuminates it from many perspectives - adults and children who are exposed to family violence, those who perpetrate it, and psychologists and psychologists who work with violence. 

•  In December 2022, our project won first place in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion category of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) Awards.

 

Text and photo: Czech Government Office

More project info: (Czech Language) Posilování kapacit a metodologická podpora v prevenci domácího a genderově podmíněného násilí