SHELTER

Support and advice through health system for hate crimes victims

What is SHELTER?

SHELTER is an international project co-funded by the European Union through the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Program of the Directorate-General Justice And Consumers. It seeks to improve access for victims of hate crimes to resources and networks that can facilitate their assistance, protection, specialized support and the reporting of such acts.

This project will last 24 months and is expected to cost a total of €344,922.72. The action was launched on the 1st of December of 2018 and has received a fund of €275,938.58, which represents 80% of the total cost.

Our work aims to achieve four specific objectives:

Tackling the underreporting data within the health system in relation to aggression and violence committed under the approach of hate crime.

Strengthening the medical and psycho-social care to victims of hate crime at the heath system.

Facilitating the access of victims to protection, assistance, and specialised support resources.

Incorporating the health system institutions into an international network to support victims of hate crime.

About the project

SHELTER conducts research, awareness-raising and training activities for health system staff and students to reverse the trend in some of the most concerned countries (in particular by migrants and refugees). The research focuses on how hate crime victims access to and are treated in the national health systems. Thanks to its conclusions, several training courses for hospital staff (nurses, doctors, social workers, etc.) and university students will be organised, as well as a campaign to sensitize the public to hate crimes and to the perverse impact they have on victims; on their groups and on the society as a whole.

One of the main outcomes of the project will be the establishment of an international health network and the creation of a specific certificate of the “Stop hate damages” project, for health system institutions that wish to improve their assistance to these particular victims.

The overall project, led by the University of Castilla – La Mancha, brings together universities and social organizations from 4 European countries: Hungary, Malta, Cyprus and Spain.

For more information on the contributors to the project, please visit the Who we are section of the website.