Aid facilities

Contact points for help in violence situations

In case of imminent danger, the police should be contacted (under the emergency number 133)!

Independent of contacting the police, women who are threatened or affected by violence can turn to a large network of facilities offering legal and practical help.

In addition to women experts providing support around the clock on the free Women’s Helpline (telephone: 0800 222 555), Women’s Counselling Centres against Sexual Violence are available in the event of sexual violance, and Violence Protection Centres have been set up to provide help in violence situations occurring in families and/or the social environment as well as in cases of stalking. Women’s shelters provide safe accommodation for women and their children who are at risk of or affected by violence.

Women and girls who are threatened or affected by forced marriage are given support and emergency accommodation in a safe place by the counselling agency Orient Express.

Women who are victims of human trafficking or cross-border sexual services trade are given support at the Intervention Centre for Victims of Women Trafficking.

There is a number of counselling centres specialised on migrant women.

Especially the Women’s Helpline 0800 222 555 offers advice 24/7, 365 days a year, available anonymously, free of charge, in various languages and refers callers to the nearest specialised facility.

Furthermore, many of the above mentioned aid facilities offer counselling in the victims‘ native language or will use interpreters where necessary.

To enable women to access any kind of help available, the following descriptions give an overview of the aid facilities that focus on the protection of victims.

Women’s Counselling Centres against sexual violence 

Women’s Counselling Centres against sexual violence are psychosocial facilities offering specifically targeted assistance for women and adolescent girls who have experienced sexual violence.

These centres offer the following services:

  • Crisis intervention
  • Psychosocial counselling
  • Psychotherapy (referral on request and if required)
  • Traumatherapy (referral on request and if required)
  • Psychosocial and legal assistance in court proceedings
  • Counselling for attachment figures
  • Events (for multiplicators, attachment figures, interested persons)
  • If required, use of interpreters

Specialised Women’s Counselling Centres against Sexual Violence are available in all federal states in Austria during operating hours. Outside these hours the Women’s Helpline 0800 222 555 (free of charge within Austria), offers first advice and crisis counselling. If necessary, callers will be referred to the appropriate facility of the respective federal state.

Furthermore, the Women’s Emergency Helpline of the City of Vienna (+43 1 71 71 9) operates 24/7, 365 days a year. It is available anonymously and free of charge for women and girls aged 14 and over who are affected by sexual, physical or mental violence.

For more information please see:

Violence Protection Centres against Domestic Violence

Violence Protection Centres offer active help and support for affected persons, free of charge and confidentially – in particular after police interventions in the event of domestic violence and stalking. Their primary task is to protect the victims and enhance their safety.

These victims’ aid facilities serve as hubs for all institutions involved (e.g. security authorities, courts, youth welfare authorities, women’s shelters).

Violence Protection Centres offer the following services:

  • Help with improving protection and safety for women and their children
  • Information and support especially after an eviction
  • Assistance with the phrasing and filing of applications with a court and help with contacting authorities
  • Assistance during police questioning and court proceedings
  • Psychosocial and legal assistance in court proceedings
  • If necessary, referral to other facilities (women’s shelters, counselling centres for women and families, child protection facilities, psychotherapists etc.)
  • If necessary, counselling in the native language of affected persons or use of interpreters

Each federal state has its own Violence Protection Centre. Some federal states also have regional centres.  

For more information please see the website „Gewaltschutzzentrum.at“ that gives an Austria-wide overview on specific addresses of Violence Protection Centres.

Women’s shelters

Women’s shelters offer immediate help, without any red tape, for women who are threatened or affected by violence and their children, by providing safe accommodation and counselling. Women’s shelter workers counsel, accompany and support affected women in dealings with authorities, alimony and custody matters, divorce issues, finding a job and a place to live. Advice is provided regardless of nationality, religious belief or income. Women’s shelters offer the following of services:

  • Emergency aid
  • Protection and accommodation
  • Crisis intervention
  • Psychosocial and legal counselling
  • Psychosocial and legal assistance in court proceedings
  • Help with filing applications
  • Follow-up care
  • Referral
  • On-call service around the clock
  • Care and advice for children and adolescents
  • If necessary, native-language counselling or interpreting service

For more information please see the website „Hilfsangebote bei Gewalt gegen Frauen (in German)“ offering an Austria-wide overview on women’s shelters and other specific aid facilities concerning violence against women.

Counselling and emergency accommodation for women and girls affected by forced marriage

There are several counselling centres in Austria that specialise in forced marriage:

Orient Express, Vienna:

A team of specialised female experts offers counselling and support for girls and young women, who are threatened or affected by forced marriage. Also (anonymous) online-counselling is being offered.

In addition, in cases of immediate danger, emergency accommodation and temporary accommodation are available - the addresses of which are kept secret for safety reasons.

Orient Express offers the following services nationwide:

  • Counselling for affected girls and their parents in case of imminent forced marriage
  • Crisis intervention in cases of imminent forced marriage
  • Support to solve conflicts (with parents, ...)
  • Contact to the Youth Welfare Office in charge
  • Support in moving out of the parent´s apartment
  • Temporary emergency accommodation with native-language care and counselling
  • Help, if legal steps are necessary in the country of origin (to look for a lawyer specialised on divorce and marriage annulment)

For more information please see the website Orient Express.

In addition, the following specialised counselling centres offer counselling and support for women and girls who are threatened or affected by forced marriage and abduction:

DIVAN, Graz: for more information please see the website DIVAN 

Women from All Countries – Centre for Forced Marriage (for Tyrol, Salzburg and Vorarlberg): for more information please see the website Centre for Forced Marriage 

PeriFeri, Vienna: Austria-wide central help centre against abduction and family violence: for more information please see the website PeriFeri 

Intervention Centre for Trafficked Women (IBF)

The Intervention Centre for Trafficked Women (Interventionsstelle für Betroffene des Frauenhandels) provides comprehensive advice (by multilingual staff) and support for women and girls (from the age of 15) who have been trafficked into or within Austria, to be exploited in prostitution or marriage, in the household or in other fields of work (e.g. cleaning industry, agriculture, tourism). The IBF closely cooperates with government authorities and private institutions and also maintains contacts with non-governmental organisations abroad, with the aim of informing female migrants in their home countries about violence prevention and coordinating service options for affected women and girls in the countries of origin, transit and destination countries.

IBF offers the following services:

  • Temporary emergency accommodation with native-language care and counselling
  • Visiting women in custody pending deportation if there is grounds for suspicion that they are victims of women trafficking
  • Health advice, psychological and social counselling, psychotherapy and life counselling
  • Counselling and intervention related to residence and labour laws
  • Assistance during police questioning
  • Psychosocial and legal assistance in court proceedings
  • Support with obtaining documents (documents required under aliens’ laws, registration form, duplicates of travel documents, certificates for the journey home)
  • German language courses and other options for advanced training and promoting integration
  • or preparing for return in cooperation with NGOs in the countries of origin as well as other organisations

For more information please see the website Intervention Centre for Trafficked Women.