Today 10 December is Human Rights Day. Between 25 November and 11 December, a UN-initiated campaign, supported inter alia by the Catholic Women’s Council and the World Council of Churches has been raising awareness of gender-based violence against women and girls. The WCC has launched a number of initiatives that include the wearing of black on Thursdays. Members and friends of our Diakonia group have chosen to express solidarity by appearing in black – and we would like to propose practical ways of helping women in distress in Luxembourg.

A recent RTL interview with representatives of Femmes en Détresse, the association directly involved with women and girls at risk of violence, shows that their shelters in Luxembourg are currently full. There are 65 women on a waiting list to go into these shelters – women in danger of violence in their homes or from their partners – and it will be at least a year before they can be accommodated in these shelters… if at all, given the housing crisis.

We can help Femmes en Détresse by making donations to FED ASBL (IBAN : LU87 0019 1106 6556 2000; BIC : BCEELULL). For more information on the ASBL, and on how to become involved, see here.