The Center for the Protection of Women and Children “Raba Voca” in South Mitrovica is expecting to have a new facility. South Mitrovica municipality has allocated a plot of land for the new building which will have the capacity to hold 30 people.

The Director of Culture, Youth, and Sports of this municipality, Valdete Idrizi, announced that the construction is co-financed between the donor and the municipality and that the work is expected to start this year. She made these comments during a meeting organized by Kosovo Women’s Network member organization CECD – Friends, in the framework of the project “Life without domestic violence – promoting domestic violence protection mechanisms.”

The Director of the shelter “Raba Voca,” Fidane Hyseni, said that the current shelter has a significant lack of space, especially after the increase in the number of victims after the pandemic.

But she said that despite the poor conditions the victims are satisfied “being away from their abusers.” She added that the recent floods have also created problems with humidity, which has resulted in power outages.

The Regional Director of Police in South Mitrovica, Afërdita Mikullovci confirmed the increase in domestic violence in the last four years. Mikullovci said that they are working on raising awareness against domestic violence.

The Center for the Protection of Women and Children “Raba Voca” carried out this activity as a beneficiary of the grant from the 17th Round of the Kosovo Women’s Fund, through the initiative of the KWN “Enhancing the Capacities and Resilience of CSO’s: Furthering Gender Equality Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which is financed by the Office of the European Union in Kosovo.