Dubai charity receives 400 domestic violence calls

The helpline of Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWAC) received 1,617 calls during the third quarter of last year, bringing the total number of calls received by the line in the first nine months of 2014 to 3,968, Afra Al Basti, Member of the National Federal Council and the Director-General DFWAC.

Al Basti said the calls received during the third quarter of 2014 included 396 calls about women and children victims of violence, and 1,221 calls for family consultation and general inquiries about how to support the foundation through volunteering and donations.

“Violence victims’ calls during the third quarter included 252 calls about domestic violence, 29 calls about child abuse, three calls about sexual abuse, and 112 on other topics related to the abuse of women and children,” she added.

Al Basti explained that about 362 victims contacted DFWAC’s helpline directly, while 27 people called for reporting victims among relatives and friends. 7 calls were received from official bodies such as the police and schools to transfer cases to the Foundation’s shelter.

She pointed out that 49 per cent of the cases who contacted the foundation through its helpline during the third quarter of 2014 were Emirati Nationals while other nationalities accounted for 51 per cent of the cases, and the target of most of the calls was to get psychological or social counselling, as only five cases out of 396 asked for sheltering services.

She added that the number of the helpline’s callers is continuously increasing, whether for psychological and social counselling, or to ask for help, which reflects the growing confidence of members of the community towards DFWAC which has succeeded in raising the awareness of the issues of violence against women and children among society and encourages them to seek help from the concerned authorities.

She added that the helpline of the Foundation holds the membership of the Child Helpline International Foundation (CHI), which is a global network of 179 free call centres for the protection and care of children in 143 countries that receive more than 14 million calls a year, after meeting all the required standards.

The DFWAC’s Director-General confirmed that the helpline has been linked with the case management system of DFWAC to provide the best level of services to callers and to ensure the privacy of all their information, adding that the foundation is constantly working on improving its helpline and discussing new ideas to develop the level of the services.

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