Safe Home for Victims of Domestic Violence in Shahr-e Kord

The 22nd safe home for victims of domestic violence and abuse opened on Monday in the city of Shahr-eKord in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province.

“The state Welfare Organization (SWO) has plans to lunch 15 more shelters by the end of the current year in March 2018,” said Fariba Derakhshannia, head of the office overseeing the affairs of socially-distressed people at SWO.

Recalling that since 2013 such houses have been established in 10 provinces across the country, she said, “Women admitted to the shelters are tested for HIV and hepatitis as well as drug addiction. They should be free from these ailments to be eligible for admittance.”

According to Derakhshannia the day after admission the women should be sent to court and the judge determines how long they can stay at the shelters.

At present, the centers have reached the capacity to keep each woman up to six months.”But in special cases, the centers usually keep women for longer periods until they are able to find a job or a safe place to live.”

Earlier Hassan Mousavi Chalek, head of the Iranian Social Workers Association had said the process of establishing safe shelters started several years ago but abused women who seek refuge are few.

He said that the fear of “dishonor and wrong cultural beliefs” are among reasons why many avoid seeking refuge and prefer to continue in an abusive relationship.

Some women believe that if they show patience and endurance the violence and abuse will stop. “But they simply don’t understand that nothing they do will change their abusive partner,” he added.   

Currently, there are four safe shelters in the northern, southern, eastern and central parts of the capital and each has a capacity for 30 women.  All services provided at the shelters are free.

 Domestic Abuse

According to the latest official statistics, there are at least 2.8 million addicts in the country. But the real figure is much higher because in the national studies large numbers of addicts who do not seek treatment and/or are not homeless are unaccounted.

Many of the domestic abusers are addicts, and the number of murders committed by people addicted to crystal meth is frightening. The abusers are both women and men, but the number of male addicts is higher.

Some persistent psychotic symptoms of meth abuse include violent behavior, paranoia, and hallucinations and most addicts don’t even remember what they did during their bouts of hallucinations.

Earlier Kourosh Mohammadi, who conducts research in addiction patterns,  told IRNA 84% of families with a member addicted to crystal meth have experienced some kind of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and 43% have been subjected to extremely severe physical violence.

Also, annually around 1.1% of extreme physical abuses result in the death of a family member. About 58% of the victims are women and 36% children.