Less than 50% of Poles reporting domestic abuse

Photo: Glowimages

Commissioned by the Interior Ministry, the study shows that 14 percent of those questioned have been a bystander to domestic abuse over the past year. The acts of violence most often involved psychological abuse such as name-calling, blackmail or threats.

One in five of the eyewitnesses stated they kept silent because they thought that informing the police would be to no avail. The same percentage of people claimed that family issues should be resolved at home. One in eight stated that domestic violence in other people’s families was not their problem.

One in three of the respondents was unable to list at least one institution they could report the crime to. Most, 60 percent, called the police, or a social welfare centre when faced with domestic abuse.

“We need to make people aware that reporting violence is not denouncement, and our intervention could break the cycle of torment,” says Miroslawa Katna, the head of the Committee for the Protection of Children’s Rights.

According to police statistics, nearly 87,000 people fell victim to domestic violence in 2013 – these were mostly women, although one in four of the victims were children.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry’s data show that the number of arrested perpetrators of domestic abuse has grown twofold since last year, reaching 6,500 offenders. (aba/jb)

Source: Gazeta Wyborcza