Respect, Educate, Nurture and Empower Women (RENEW), a non-profit organisation meant to empower vulnerable women will soon set up a safe house in Bumthang Dzongkhag. The house will provide shelter and counseling to victims of domestic violence and other gender based violence like rape and incest. It is on command of Her Majesty the Queen Mother Sangay Choden Wangchuck, the founder and the president of the RENEW.
It will provide shelter not just to the vulnerable women in Bumthang but also to those in eastern Dzongkhags. “Through this shelter service, it is basically emergency crisis-intervention service. Such crisis intervention services will be provided with a shelter firstly and secondly she will also be provided with other counseling services and if need be she will also be provided with legal services,” said the Executive Director of the RENEW, Chimi Wangmo.
The safe house will also provide food and clothing to the victims. The RENEW says the location of the safe house will be kept anonymous. “Because safe house are supposed to be in an anonymous location where no one should know where the safe house is for the protection of the victims that might come to the safe house.”
Other than Bumthang, RENEW has plans to set up safe house in Zhemgang and Samtse. At present, only Thimphu has a safe house for vulnerable women.
