More than half of victims seeking help are pupils or students

The proportion of schoolchildren and students is increasing to more than half of the victims who come to the centres. These shocking figures confirm the important role played by the Care Centres and have prompted the Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity, Marie-Colline Leroy, to submit a proposal for additional funding to create four new Care Centres. There will also be another campaign this autumn to raise awareness of sexual violence and the role of shelters.

In 2021, the care centres in Belgium received 1,662 victims of sexual violence. In 2022, the number of victims rose to 3287. In 2022, an average of nine people reported to a shelter every day. Over the years 2017 - 2022, more than 90% of the victims were women and more than 90% of the perpetrators were men. In more than 60% of cases, the perpetrator was a known person ((ex) partner, family member or housemate, acquaintance). More than 70% of the victims came to the Care Centre in the first 7 days after the incident.  The average age of the victims was 24 years. Almost one third of the victims were minors. Between 2017 and 2022, 47.8% of the victims reporting to a Care Centre were pupils or students. By 2022, this figure had risen to over 50%. These are some of the shocking figures revealed in the 2017 to 2022 findings compiled by the NICC on behalf of the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men and the Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity. 

Need for four additional care centres after Sexual Violence

These figures demonstrate the importance of the Belgian Care Centres and prompted Secretary of State Marie-Colline Leroy to request an additional budget during the budget negotiations for the opening of four more Care Centres in Halle-Vilvoorde, Eupen, Mons and Walloon Brabant from 2024: "Practice shows that the geographical area of the public prosecutor's office is the most effective way to organise a Care Centre. And that's what it's all about: how can we best take care of people who have just experienced something terrible? And at the same time, how can we ensure that as many victims as possible are willing to come forward? The request for additional care centres comes from people working in the field and is a request that I fully support". 

Operation Consent and major national awareness campaign

In addition, at the request of the Secretary of State, Plan International and Plan Sacha, in collaboration with the Institute for Gender Equality, have launched 'Operation Consent'. Both organisations are responsible for organising and carrying out information sessions and local actions to raise awareness about consent and sexual violence and to increase the visibility of Belgian post-sexual violence support centres at festivals, parties, university campuses, colleges and art schools. This action is part of the National Action Plan against Gender-based Violence (NAP) 2021-2025, which aims to introduce integrated, comprehensive and inclusive policies to effectively and radically combat gender-based violence and achieve true gender equality. 

In the autumn of 2023, a large-scale national campaign will be launched, also under the aegis of the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men, to raise awareness of Belgium's care centres so that victims and those who support them know where to turn. This campaign will focus in particular on minors (1/3 of victims are minors), young people (the average age is 24) and undocumented migrants (a particularly vulnerable group who still know too little about the care centres).

Victims deserve the care they need

Secretary of State Leroy: "Every day, an average of nine victims register in Belgian care centres. Nine people whose lives have been turned upside down by violence. And these figures are only the tip of the iceberg. Each victim is one too many. With Operation Consent and the awareness-raising campaign to be launched in the autumn, we want to raise awareness. We are looking at the raw numbers here - a third of victims are minors, the average age of victims is 24. Victims deserve the care they need: care centres put victims and their needs first, which helps them deal with what has happened. We want more people to know that there are care centres after Sexual Violence, places where they can go for holistic care and where their needs and concerns are central. Finally, I would also like to thank everyone who helped to set up the centres and all the people who work in and around the centres today: they do essential work and make a real difference to victims and their relatives.”

New website zsg.belgium.be

From Tuesday 11 July, the new website zsg.belgium.be will be online. On this website, victims, their supporters and professionals can find out more about sexual violence and the work of the care centres. Victims can use the help finder to find out what the care centres can do for them, depending on their age and the time when the sexual violence took place. The coordinates of the various care centres are also listed. The website is updated regularly and various publications (such as the guide for victims and this guide for supporters) can be downloaded.

A Care Centre after Sexual Violence is a unique multidisciplinary partnership between a hospital, the police and the public prosecutor's office. In a care centre, victims of sexual violence can get all the help they need, free of charge, 24 hours a day, in one place. The staff, consisting of forensic nurses and psychologists, are specially trained to provide holistic medical, forensic and psychological care to victims of sexual violence. If a victim wishes to make a complaint, an inspector will come to the site to conduct a recorded interview.