Physical and verbal abuse, rape, harassment, threats, bullying: Violence against women is a serious violation of human rights. During the period of the pandemic, movement restriction policies implemented in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, resulted in a sharp increase of risk for gender-based violence survivors. An even greater risk for women of vulnerable social groups, such as refugees and asylum seekers.

Precisely for these women, who have to deal with additional difficulty of the language barrier, METAdrasi, started in April, in cooperation with UNICEF and the Research Centre for Gender Equality (KETHI), the program “Enhancing Accessibility to Services for GBV Survivors in Greece through Interpretation”. The aim of this program is for interpretation to bridge the gap of communication so that gender-based violence survivors will have access to various support services in the mainland and the islands of Greece.

METAdrasi’s team of specially trained interpreters supports women by providing interpretation in the context of psychosocial support and legal aid sessions, in cases of medical examination or hospital visits, even in cases where the women wish to testify to the police regarding an incident of abuse.

To date, our interpreters have supported more than 130 women, in 350 psychosocial, medical and legal support sessions, in more than 30 counseling centers and other entities offering support and protection.