First aid center for victims of sexual assault proposed by D66

Victims of sexual violence should be able to rely on a single central point for help, argued centrist political party D66. From there, they should be assisted with contacting police, an attorney, or a doctor, among others. The proposal also has support from right-wing party VVD.

This type of emergency care after sexual violence is badly needed, according to D66 parliamentarian Hanneke van der Werf. "Victims of sexual violence often do not know where to start looking for help." Amnesty International, the Rutgers think tank, and the Center for Sexual Violence previously lobbied for a centralized approach to providing care.

Eight percent of Dutch people over the age of 16 said they were the victims of sexual violence, intimidation or harassment between 2019 and 2020, according to Statistics Netherlands. "This varies from being the target of spoken or online remarks, to physical sexual violence, such as rape," the WODC wrote last year. The WODC, or Research and Documentation Centre, conducts studies on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

"One percent of those over the age of 16 became victims of domestic sexual violence."