The European Commission and UN Women, joined by over 60 representatives from governments and civil society organisations, launched today a new component within the EU-funded UN Women regional programme “Ending violence against women in the Western Balkans and Turkey: Implementing Norms, Changing Minds”. The purpose of the programme is to accelerate and strengthen the response to the surge in violence against women and girls amidst the pandemic in the Western Balkans.

The additional funding to Phase II of the programme, which kicked off in March 2020, will address the gaps exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in the area of general and specialist service provision for women and girls, such as shelters, legal aid and psychological counselling, as well as improving the effectiveness of support services in crisis situations.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the European Union and UN Women have collaborated with women’s rights organisations across the Western Balkans and Turkey and have kicked off 40 new partnerships to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of specialist services for women survivors of violence.