Women fleeing domestic violence often sheltered in hotels with no security staff
Women fleeing from violent partners are increasingly ending up in hotels due to a shortage of emergency shelters in the Netherlands. Last year, women were sheltered in hotels at least 240 times, Nieuwsuur reported after an investigation. Staying in a hotel can lead to dangerous situations because hotels typically don’t have extra security measures in place.
According to international agreements, each country must have at least one shelter space for domestic violence victims per 10,000 inhabitants. For the Netherlands, that amounts to 1,800 shelter spaces. The Netherlands currently has around 1,000.
On Budget Day, the caretaker government made €12 million available for more women’s shelters. According to Maarten Hijink of Valente, the trade association for organizations that offer help and support to vulnerable people, that is enough to create 150 additional shelter spaces, leaving the Netherlands still well below the international standard.
“This is completely inexplicable for a country like the Netherlands,” Hijink told the program. He hears daily from organizations struggling to find safe shelter for people in trouble. “You don’t want women having to compete with each other for a place. And organizations face difficult decisions every day during intake: who gets a place and who goes to a hotel? You want to be able to provide someone in need with a safe place immediately.”
Nieuwsuur spoke to a woman who had to stay in a hotel after fleeing her abusive husband. “He broke my foot in four different places, and I lost a child. I was three months pregnant, but I was so severely abused that I lost it,” she told the program. “It got to the point where I attempted suicide.”
After gathering the courage to seek help, there was no room for her in the women’s shelters, so she was placed at a hotel. “There are no security guards, just a woman at the reception desk. Practically, he could come in at any time. That was a scary thought.”
She also felt abandoned and isolated alone in the hotel room, to the point that she reconnected with her husband. “I had no one, I didn’t know anyone. He kept calling, texting, and sending emails. At one point, I broke. Also, because of his sweet words, which he always does. We made up. I went back.” She eventually had to flee her now ex-husband a second time.
