The invited speakers were Rose Marques, project coordinator at the Maria da Penha Institute, and military police officer, Corporal Daniele Cristina Soares, organizer of the Catarina Network in Itapoá, a specialized entity in assisting women in situations of violence in Santa Catarina

Porto Itapoá hosts event with lectures on domestic violence

In honor of Women’s Month, Porto Itapoá organized an event for the community featuring experts in combating domestic violence, who lectured on the importance of preventing and addressing situations of violence against women, as well as the functioning of entities and support networks dedicated to this issue.

The invited speakers were Rose Marques, project coordinator at the Maria da Penha Institute, and military police officer, Corporal Daniele Cristina Soares, organizer of the Catarina Network in Itapoá, a specialized entity in assisting women in situations of violence in Santa Catarina.

The Manager of People Development and Social Responsibility, Ilcilene Floriani de Oliveira Paes, opened the event by emphasizing the importance of women’s participation in the social development of Itapoá. “Women are the protagonists of this movement, and we have been working to promote the development of social support networks and social and economic development for the women in our community,” she said, adding, “In this context, it is essential to have broad knowledge of the dynamics that lead women to face situations of vulnerability and violence, as well as how to effectively and humanely welcome them.”

The first speaker, Rose Marques, expressed her happiness with what she witnessed in Itapoá. Traveling across Brazil to give lectures, the specialist sees in the municipality all the essential elements for the formation of a specialized network, especially the interest of the community itself. “It is important that the private sector takes on this responsibility, being aware that it has an important role to play in this process,” she said.

Marques is the project coordinator at the Maria da Penha Institute, a non-profit non-governmental organization that seeks to stimulate and contribute to the full implementation of Law No. 11,340/2006 (named after Maria da Penha) and to monitor the implementation and development of best practices and public policies for its compliance.

The second speaker of the evening, Daniele Cristina Soares, brought alarming data about the reality of Itapoá. Currently, there are over 100 cases of assistance to women in situations of domestic violence in the city and 57 situations of “panic button activated” – a term used for cases in which women already have protective measures to protect them from their aggressors.

Soares is a corporal in the Military Police of Santa Catarina and organizer in Itapoá of the Catarina Network, an institutional program of PMSC aimed at preventing domestic and family violence against women. Based on the philosophy of community policing and seeking to provide greater effectiveness and speed to actions for women’s protection, the program is based on protection actions and targeted policing by the Maria da Penha Patrol.