According to the US Department of State, 65 million Americans travel to foreign countries annually and 6.8 million Americans live in foreign countries. Contrary to popular belief, American Embassies are limited in their ability to assist American victims of domestic violence and sexual assault overseas. We are launching our worldwide campaign: Weaving A Global Safety Net For Americans Overseas in the UK, Italy, Greece, Lebanon, Turkey, Spain and France in 2015 and help more victims in crisis.
Tens of thousands of Americans travel and live in foreign countries. When they become victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, they are often alone, not able to speak the foreign language, don't understand their options for legal, medical or law enforcement. Ashamed and afraid, they don't feel they have anyone to turn to. We can help but we are challenged trying to raise awareness of our programs on a global level. We need to get on the ground to weave a global safety net for Americans.
We will be able to establish teams of volunteers in eight cities: London, Rome, Beirut, Istanbul, Ankara, Athens, Madrid, Barcelona and Paris to help with crisis response for domestic violence and sexual assault victims. This is a pilot project which will be implemented in other cities around the world to weave a global safety net for American victims of sexual assault and domestic violence in foreign countries.
This project aims to be replicated worldwide over the next 2 years reaching an estimated 1 million people and provide direct services to 1000 victims overseas.
