Slight increase in domestic violence reports, says Dutch stats office

Veilig Thuis received 2.5 percent more reports of domestic violence in the first half of this year than in the same period last year, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Monday. Approximately 38 percent were a repeat report, which means it involved people who previously spoke with Veilig Thuis, but the organization’s involvement had already ended by the time the report was filed again.

Veilig Thuis is an organization dedicated to stopping domestic violence and child abuse. Anyone can call the Veilig Thuis hotline if they suspect domestic violence or child abuse. For each report, Veilig Thuis determines the conditions to create a safe situation in the home and calls in follow-up help where necessary.

In the first half of this year, 38 percent of reports involved people Veilig Thuis had tried to help in the past three years but no longer had active contact with. 34 percent of reports were a first report not involving anyone who had contact with Veilig Thuis in the past.

The remaining 27 percent were follow-up reports - a report from someone Veilig Thuis is actively working with at the time. In these cases, there is a good chance that there was a new incident of violence, the stats office said.

People can also call the Veilig Thuis hotline to get advice on how to proceed if they suspect domestic violence or child abuse but don’t want to report it. The number of calls for such advice decreased by 0.7 percent in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.