Czech NGO helping crime victims provides over 52,000 meetings
Czech NGO helping crime victims provides over 52,000 meetings
Prague, Aug 31 (CTK) - The White Circle of Safety (BKB) has arranged over 52,000 meetings, consultations and discussions with experts for crime victims and their surviving relatives in the Czech Republic since its foundation in 1991, its head Petra Vitousova said Wednesday.
The emergency line operated by the group has received about 74,500 calls so far.
Last year, the BKB had 11,500 contacts with those in need compared with 9600 in 2009.
The BKB has eight offices in the Czech Republic. A new office is to be opened in Jihlava, south Moravia, next year.
Vitousova said the number of victims who do not want to report the crime to the police has been growing. While several years ago one out of five victims who contacted the BKB decided not to report the crime, in 2010 their portion doubled.
Police psychologist Ludmila Cirtkova said people report the most serious crimes the least. "They fear that they will again lose control of their fate, that was already taken away from them by the perpetrator," she said.
Cirtkova said the attitude that the professionals dealing with the crime take to the victims plays a major role. She added that decent handling by their relatives and media is important as well.
The BKB helps rape victims, the families of the people who committed suicide and people injured in violent attacks, among others. It provides psychological and legal guidance to the victims.
Vitousova said crime victims are shocked at first. "They do not understand what is going on and what rights they have," she said.
Vitousova said the prevailing majority of those asking for help are women. "Men believe they must cope with the hardships on their own," she said.
Lawyer Tomas Durdik said the rights of the victims have been extended in the Czech Republic in recent years but these rights are sometimes applied only formally.
Durdik said people do not know of their possibilities and neither the police nor other experts explain these possibilities to them. Awareness campaigns among policemen, state attorneys and judges are needed, he added.
The BKB has participated in the preparation of a new bill on crime victims that the Justice Ministry is likely to submit to the government in the autumn.