Forced marriage: Advice center in Innsbruck – tirol.ORF.at
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The Innsbruck advice center “Women from all countries” will in future also be a point of contact for women and girls who are affected by a forced marriage. So far there has been no such offer in western Austria.
In Austria, around 5,000 women or girls are likely to be affected or threatened by forced marriage – the number of unreported cases is likely to be even higher, according to the Federal Minister for Women and Integration in the Chancellery.
Last year, at the violence protection summit, it was announced that the advisory services on forced marriage would be expanded. In the east of Austria there is the “Orient Express” facility in Vienna and in the south the “DIVAN” advice center in Graz.
“Forced marriage is simply abuse”
It should simply not be the case that girls – often still children – or women in Austria are married against their will, said Susanne Raab (ÖVP) on Friday. She “absolutely does not want to have culturally determined forms of violence such as forced marriage” in Austria. A forced marriage is simply “abuse”, stated Raab.
With “Women from all countries” in Innsbruck, a low-threshold offer is being created where affected girls and women in need can find help quickly, unbureaucratically and anonymously, said Raab.