Use of 'panic button' app on the rise among Turkish women
In Turkey a "panic button" mobile app was downloaded by women 342,926 times in the first 21 months. The app received over 15 thousand reports of crises by women in this time.
Müzeyyen Yüce/ DUVAR
A "panic button" mobile application was downloaded by 342,926 women in the first 21 months of going into use.
The use of the mobile app grew ten-fold in the first year of going into circulation, reaching 15,489 reports by women in the first 21 months. Interior Ministry data showed approximately half of the reports were valid.
The "Women Support Application" (KADES) was created by the Interior Ministry and the Ministry for Family, Labor and Social Services and allows women to share a live location with the Police Emergency Line in crises with one click, which is why the app is considered a "panic button."
President of the Ankara Bar Center for Women's Rights İdil Yalçıner Şimşek says that while the application is a good practice, the Interior Ministry should report on what happened to women who reported crises.
"We hear that sometimes women are directed to violence prevention centers or mediation centers upon reporting, or that they are told to make up with their husbands at the police center," says Yalçıner Şimşek. "This makes the application pointless, they should vigilantly follow up on these reports."