Although the non-government organisation the Slovak Women's Alliance runs a hotline, it doesn't have enough resources to offer a 24 hour service. Additionally, while calls from land-lines are free of charge, there is a fee for calls from mobile phones.
The Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Ministry claims that a completely free hotline thanks to support from European funds could be introduced as of the beginning of next year. "The project is at the approval stage. Such a link really could help significantly”, said Barbora Holubova from the Work and Family Research Institute, which would run the new line. According to Holubova, around 32 percent of women in Slovakia have experienced some form of violence.
Anca Dragu
