Breaking the Cycle of Violence is a project co-financed by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme of the EU with a budget of around €350,000. It aims to complement Malta’s plan of action to implement the Istanbul Convention. The objective of this project is to raise awareness among women who are more susceptible to suffer violence of all forms – psychological, economic, physical or sexual. These women were identified to be women with some form of disability, migrant women and LBTI women, and were adopted as the target groups for this project.
The project incorporates an awareness-raising campaign for the general public, information sessions, an educational programme for children and youth, the development of a mentoring programme for women which fall under any one of the target groups mentioned above, as well as research on violence trends.
During 2019, seven information sessions were held. Five of them were with human resources personnel, one of which catered for the Gozo cohort. Another one was conducted with public service employees in senior positions, and the last of which was conducted with advocates in collaboration with the Chamber of Advocates. Amongst the topics discussed during these sessions included the services available for victims of domestic violence and gender-based violence, how government employees may bring the victims closer to these services, and a closer look at the experience of the victims.