Out of the 79.5 million people who have been forcefully displaced, the UNHCR reports that over half are women and girls. 1 in 5 women refugees experience gender-based violence. Lockdowns due to Covid19 compounded the risk, triggering what the UN Secretary-General has called a “shadow pandemic”. Domestic violence spiked where many women were trapped with their perpetrators, and economic uncertainty exacerbated their risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation. 

In Athens, services for GBV survivors are few, and scattered throughout the city, often lacking female interpreters. Navigating these services without support is often re-traumatising.  Dignified and safe shelters remain scarce and the shelters that do exist do not offer wrap-around services  to equip women with the skills, knowledge and networks to generate an income and become autonomous. As a result, they can create a cycle of dependency in which residents are provided a sense of temporary safety without being equipped to take control of their lives. 

With the increase in GBV cases resulting from the lockdown, and the lack of a holistic model for women at risk and survivors of GBV, our current campaign, The Pomegranate Project, is both necessary and life-saving.