Country Profile Latvia

General Country Information

Summary

There is no national women’s helpline in Latvia, but there are three other helplines supporting women survivors of violence. There are 17 women-only shelters, although the number of beds is unknown, and three women’s centres. No specialised services for women and girls who have experienced sexualised violence exist. Latvia has a National Action Plan for Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (2024–2029), which includes prevention as one of its central pillars. The state collects data about women’s specialist services on the provision of services and clients supported, and this data is available upon request.¹

Women’s Specialist Services

There is no national women’s helpline in Latvia. Therefore, the country does not meet the Istanbul Convention minimum standard for a national women’s helpline. There are three other helplines supporting survivors of violence against women in Latvia. The first is the national crisis helpline Krīzes tālrunis which is run by the Crisis and Counselling Centre “Skalbes” (Krīžu un Konsultāciju Centrs “Skalbes”, tel.: 116123 or +371 27722292) and operates 24/7. This is a generic crisis helpline which provides emotional and informational support to anyone in crisis or any survivor of a crime. The second available helpline is called Victim (Cietušajiem, tel.: 116 006) and operates every day from 12:00–22:00. This helpline is for all survivors of physical, mental, economic, and sexualised violence. In 2023, the helpline supported 423 individuals, and 302 individuals were supported from January to October 2024 (however, not all calls related to violence against women). The third helpline is run by the NGO Association “MARTA Centre” (Biedrība “Centrs MARTA”, tel.: +371 67378539) and provides support to women survivors of physical, emotional, sexualised, and economic violence as well as human trafficking. The helpline is free of charge but is not available 24/7 (only available weekdays from 10:00–18:00). The helpline offers multilingual support in Latvian, Russian, and English.

In Latvia, there are 17 women-only shelters, with an unspecified number of beds.² All women-only shelters have 24/7 access, and there are shelters for women with children facing a crisis or emergency situations. Women-only shelters are funded by the state as well as through donations and exist in all regions of Latvia. The in-house services most often provided by women-only shelters include counselling, legal advice, practical advice, casework, and collaboration with other services (such as the police).

All women-only shelters are accessible to homeless women, older women, and women³ with older sons (14 years and above). Most women-only shelters are equipped to support women with physical or cognitive disabilities, and women with substance abuse issues. The NGO Shelter Safe House (Patvērums “Drošā māja) operates a rehabilitation programme for survivors of human trafficking, offering safe shelter, legal and psychosocial support, basic necessities, and a 24/7 helpline (tel.: +371 28612120). In addition, MARTA Centre provides anonymous shelter accommodation for women survivors of violence and/or human trafficking. MARTA Centre also operates a rehabilitation service for women and children survivors of violence who have a high lethality risk and are in a vulnerable situation, in the form of state paid crisis apartments.⁴ There are no other specialised centres supporting particular groups of survivors nor women survivors or those at risk of specific forms of violence in Latvia.

One women-only shelter is run by a women’s NGOs with a gender-specific/feminist approach and six women-only shelters are run by other NGOs.⁵ These shelters are for women and girls and are funded and managed by the NGO Children’s Fund of Latvia. If women-only shelters had to decline referrals, it was mainly because the survivor was ineligible for support. For example, in case the survivor cannot present an ID or does not have citizenship, the first night in the shelter will be provided, but she cannot receive other services or longer-term shelter accommodation.

There are other shelters in Latvia, besides the women-only shelters, which can provide support to survivors of violence against women. Support is delivered through crisis centres and family support centres, and in 2023, 15 crisis centres provided support to women and children survivors of violence.⁶ State-funded social-rehabilitation services are delivered by five crisis/family support centres run by NGOs, which are available to all survivors of violence regardless of gender or citizenship. In 2023, social rehabilitation in crisis centres was ensured for 70 women and 538 children. Additionally, since July 2023, the state has financed crisis apartments for survivors of violence.⁷ These provide safe housing for up to 180 days for women, their children, and household members at high risk of violence. Services are offered through municipal housing, NGO premises, hotels/guesthouses, or rented apartments. Between July 2023 and December 2024, 11 women and 15 children accessed this support. The service is free of charge, with state funding covering accommodation costs (up to €39.67 per adult and €19.67 per child per day). Crisis apartments are available nationwide via any local social service office, which decides on eligibility, administers the service, and ensures cooperation with NGOs to provide not only shelter but also social rehabilitation.

There are three women’s centres in Latvia, all are run by women’s NGOs and located in most regions of the country.⁸ One women’s centre is the Talsi Women’s and Children’s Crisis Center which is located in Talsi. Additionally, MARTA Centre provides support in three centres located in Rīga, Liepāja, and Rēzekne. All women’s centres in Latvia provide counselling/ psychological support and legal advice services to women survivors of violence against women.

Two women’s centres provide specialised support to survivors of forced marriage and trafficking, and one centre provides specialist support to women with uncertain residence status/undocumented women. Women’s centres receive funding from the state as well as donations. Some of the women’s centres also offer support for survivors of sexualised violence including needs assessment, specialist psychological care and community awareness as well as education for prevention.

There are no services for women and girls who have experienced sexualised violence in Latvia. The country’s “Plan for the Prevention and Combating of Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence 2024–2029” includes a measure relating to sexualised violence for which the Ministry of Health is designated as the responsible authority.⁹ Measures include a pilot project to establish relevant support services for survivors of sexualised violence. Several NGOs (including Centre Dardedze for underaged girls and MARTA Centre) do however offer psychological and legal services for survivors of sexualised violence. The NGO Skalbes provides support to survivors of all forms of violence, including sexualised violence.

There is no official definition of primary prevention in Latvia. However, since 2024 the country has a National Action Plan for Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (2024–2029), which includes prevention as one of its central pillars. Additionally, the state funds some primary prevention activities, namely, school-based primary prevention programmes, awareness-raising campaigns or programmes, and conferences on the prevention of violence.¹⁰

1. Information from the WAVE Country Report 2023. ↩︎
2. Information on women-only shelters is from the WAVE Country Report 2023. ↩︎
3. Information on shelter accessibility is from the WAVE Country Report 2023. ↩︎
4. The service can be used for a period of up to 30 days with a possible extension to 180 days. ↩︎
5. This information is from the WAVE Country Report 2023. ↩︎
6. GREVIO Baseline Evaluation Report for Latvia, 2025: https://rm.coe.int/state-report-of-latvia-addressed-to-grevio-received-on-25-march-2025/1680b4fa6f,
   p.19. ↩︎
7. Ibid., p.21. ↩︎
8. This information is from the WAVE Country Report 2023. ↩︎
9. GREVIO Baseline Evaluation Report for Latvia, 2025: https://rm.coe.int/state-report-of-latvia-addressed-to-grevio-received-on-25-march-2025/1680b4fa6f,p.21. ↩︎
10. This information is from the WAVE Country Report 2023. ↩︎