More reports of sexual violence to Victim Support this year

The number of victims of sexually transgressive behavior and sexual violence who reported to Victim Support Netherlands this year has increased by 25 percent. This year through November, more than 10,000 people were involved. In the period that the revelations of sexual misconduct came out on the television program The Voice, the organization helped 56 percent more victims than in the same period a year earlier.

Media coverage of the issue led to an increase in the number of reports throughout the year, according to Victim Support Netherlands. Lawyers from the organization supported almost 20 percent more victims this year through November than in the same period in 2021.

According to Katja Nijland, psychosocial adviser on sexual violence at Victim Support Netherlands , the victims who are now reporting more frequently can be divided into two groups. People who realize for the first time that they too are victims, partly because of the great attention paid to the subject. And victims who have experienced sexual violence in the past and who are seeking help for it again.

Nijland called the figures "very shocking". "We do get a better picture of how big the group is. And it is a nice fact that people experience a lower threshold to speak out and seek help."

Victim Support Netherlands also shared figures from sister organization Perspectief Herstelbemiddeling. This organization mediates between perpetrators and victims of sexual violence, among other things. This year, 30 percent of all cases were related to sex crimes. In all of 2021, there were 232 cases. This year through November there were already 344, according to Victim Support Netherlands.