Providing counselling in cases of sexual discrimination and violence is a key focus of the work carried out by the Women’s and Equality Officer at the UdK Berlin. In addition to protecting victims, it is a central priority for the UdK Berlin to raise awareness of this issue within the institution by expanding and further professionalising the culture of reporting incidents in everyday university life. Reporting cases and speaking out about assaults should be possible with as few barriers as possible, so that the institution can act swiftly and decisively. With the Themis Trust Centre, we now have a partner organisation at our side that supports us in this endeavour.

The Themis Trust Center Against Sexual Harassment and Violence e.V. is a well-known independent support service within the sector, which primarily offers confidential psychological and legal advice. Themis helps those affected to make sense of incidents, provides information on possible legal steps and also offers a comprehensive range of prevention services.

This additional external perspective, available to both students and staff, complements the existing support provided by the contact persons for protection against sexual harassment and sexualised violence, the Women’s and Equality Officers, and the Contact Point for discrimination and violence.