On the opening day of the new facilities and celebration of the 10th anniversary, the heads of the Centre for Assistance and Monitoring Women Victims of Violence (P'ra ti) of the Alternative and Response Women's Union (UMAR), released the data and figures for the 10 years of operation of the centre.

On the day on which International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is also celebrated, Ilda Afonso, P'ra ti's technical director, said that of the 2,700 women and children attended from 2009 to 2019, mainly from the municipalities of Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia and Gondomar, 257 cases were of "high risk".

Of the 2,700 cases attended, 1,080 women received social support, 1,024 psychological support, and 759 legal support, with several women receiving "more than one type of assistance."

During the presentation of the data, Ilda Afonso also pointed out that, during these 10 years, approximately 36,129 victims, aged between 16 and 86 years, were attended in person and by telephone.

Regarding the victim's connection with the aggressor, 75 percent say they are victims of the husband, boyfriend or partner and 15 percent of former partners or ex-husbands.

"About 60 percent of our users describe, on arrival, an escalation of violence, so they decide to ask for help. They begin to realize that things will not change for the better," said the official, adding that 15 percent of victims underestimate the aggressions and 10 percent have already attempted suicide.

With regard to the sons and daughters of victims who passed through P'ra Ti, the average age is 12 years old, most of them "still dependent on the parent", saying that in more than 80 percent of cases the father is the aggressor and, in 15 percent of the cases, it is the stepfather.

Regarding the autonomy apartments, entitled LAAR (Freedom, Autonomy, Affection and Recovery), which the centre manages in Vila Nova de Gaia, under a protocol signed in 2015 with the municipality, since November 2015, they have already passed throug 19 women and 12 children.

Of these, 11 women and 8 minors were autonomous, with the majority needing a year to become autonomous, two needing a year and a half and the rest leaving in the first six months," said Ilda Afonso, adding that at the moment five women and three minors live in the apartments.

Afonso, the success rate of LAAR apartments is 79 percent, and P'ra Ti now awaits the implementation of an identical solution in the city of Porto.

Also present at the inauguration session, Miguel Cardoso, director of the District Centre for Social Security of Porto, stressed the need to “combat this scourge”.

"This problem is paradigmatic and demonstrative (...) because gender and violence against women is an indicator that our society has not advanced as far as it should," said Miguel Cardoso, adding that it is necessary to "look at the problem seriously".

"This is a problem that is rooted, and it is rooted in such a way that it is also frightening to realize the size and minority of outbreaks that are in place," he concluded.