In case of emergency
A person you are or you have been with is maltreating you physically or mentally or is threatening to do so.
Here’s what you can do:
Call the police 110!
The police may, for example, oblige a violent person to leave the common home for10 days.
What can you do?
- You may seek legal advice from a lawyer.
- You or a lawyer can apply to the competent court of first instance [Amtsgericht] for a housing assignment and a prohibition against contact and approach according to the Violence Protection Act.
- You can contact the Women’s Advice Centre for information, advice and support in all necessary steps.
- If you don’t feel safe
You can seek refuge in a women’s shelter! Take important documents for yourself (and for your children) with you when you leave the apartment.
Further information and help
Helpline “Violence against women” [Gewalt gegen Frauen]
Phone: 08000 11 60 16 (free, in many languages, 24 hours)
Women’s refuge Warendorf (Frauenhaus Warendorf)
Phone 02581-78018
Women’s refuge Telgte (Frauenhaus Telgte)
Phone 02504-5155
telgte@frauenhaus-und-beratung.de
Further women's refuge
You can also contact a women’s refuge outside the district of Warendorf.
www.frauen-info-netz.de
Women’s Advice Unit / Specialist Unit against Sexual Violence
Phone 02521-16887
Women's Advice Warendorf
Phone 02581-60975
Help and Support after Sexualised Violence
Sexualised violence includes
- (attempted) rape
- sexual abuse in childhood
- sexual violence in marriage and partnership
- sexual assault
- sexual harassment at the workplace
- sexual harassment in everyday life (verbal, valuing looks, “accidental” touches, grabbing, on the phone, on the internet)
Any woman, regardless of age, appearance, social, cultural, religious background, irrespective of the level of education or her lifestyle, can be affected. There is no specific behaviour that protects against abuse.
Most offenders are from the social or familial environment.
What are the consequences of sexualised violence?
Experiences of sexualised violence can put a heavy burden on health and everyday life, even after a long time.
What kind of support offers are there?
- The Women’s Counselling Centre/Specialist centre against sexualised violence in Beckum offers victims personal and telephone counselling (also anonymously on request). Specialist advisors provide information on medical and therapeutic care options and advice on topics such as (anonymous) securing of evidence, criminal charges, court proceedings.
- Anonymous Trace Management (ASS) can be important for a possible criminal proceeding to secure traces. Not every hospital offers ASS. The outpatient clinic for victims of violence in Münster belongs to the forensic medicine department of the University Hospital of Münster. It secures evidence of crime within the scope of anonymous trace control and can store them at the institute for up to 10 years. This gives those concerned time to decide whether or not to file a complaint.
Address of the outpatient clinic for victims of violence:
Röntgenstraße 23; 48149 Münster; Phone 0251-8355160 - Help Line Violence against Women is a service for women who are affected by violence. At the number 08000 116 016 and through online consultation you can get multilingual advice anonymously, for free and around the clock.