A European project aims to create a counseling mode for the support of female refugees and asylum seekers who have suffered gender-based violence (GBV) and provide training for counselors. Several international organizations are involved in the project, which is entitled "Co-creating a Counseling Method for Refugee Women Gender-Based Violence Victims."
Several international organizations have launched an EU program to assist female refugees and asylum seekers entitled "Co-creating a Counselling Method for Refugee Women Gender-Based Violence Victims". The initiative aims to create a specific model for counselling to help women who have requested or been granted international protection and who have suffered GBV or persecution linked to their gender.
Another aim is to help improve the skills of professionals involved in assisting female refugee GBV victims through proper training, skills exchanges and the creation of tailored support services
Counseling handbook
The project received a grant under the European Union's Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020) and is led by the Consiglio Italiano per i Rifugiati (CIR) in partnership with Germany's SOLWODI, Italy's G.I.R.A.F.F.A., the Greek Refugee Council (GCR), the Cyprus Refugee Council, Finland's Suomen Setlementtiliitto (Setlement) and the Jesuit Refugee Services in Croatia. The project will publish a handbook that includes counselling methodology targeting female refugee GBV victims that sums up the recommendations for those working in the sector. An operating handbook will also be published in order to provide proper tools to the professionals who will have to assist the female refugees and asylum seekers who have suffered GBV.
Data analysis and international meetings
The European Regional Institute in the United Nations Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention (HEUNI) (Finland) supports the project with its expertise in monitoring and evaluating data on vulnerable people. The European Network of Migrant Women (ENOMW) (Belgium) will support the beneficiaries in holding an EU expert meeting and disseminating the project results. ''Gender-based persecution and violence is a serious violation of human rights that affects mostly women,'' CIR noted in a statement. ''There are women subjected to abuse for having transgressed social and cultural norms of the society they were born into, victims of forced marriage, domestic violence, rape and genital mutilation. Despite unquestionable improvements in law and procedures, too little is still said about such an important problem that is sometimes dealt with using inadequate tools.''