I ran away from home to save my life and ended up in a shelter where I felt like a criminal, not a victim. I did not have access to a telephone or the Internet, I was under constant video surveillance, and I was not allowed to leave the shelter. This is how our interlocutor, who wanted to remain anonymous, begins the story of her sad life destiny.

- Shelter centers are the only option when married life becomes hell and risky for life, and you have nowhere else to save yourself. Victims are often insecure, lack self-confidence or money. They are on the verge of rethinking and returning to the abuser, and the conditions in the shelter centers encourage that. I had food and hygiene items there, but I "fell" mentally. I felt like a prisoner. The days passed slowly. In the beginning there was a TV, then it broke down. It was very difficult for me to spend the first six months in that shelter center, says our interlocutor.

While there, she asked to go out to visit her father at the hospital, who was suffering from cancer, but was not allowed to do so. The explanation was that she must not leave the home for her safety.

- Are we victims who have been beaten and mentally abused, should we stop with our lives, be afraid to go out on the street while the abuser lives comfortably in a shared home in which women contribute as much as men? I am educated, I worked as a dentist for seven years, I invested everything I earned in the family home that I had to leave to live as a prisoner, says the victim of domestic violence, who is also a mother of two children aged 1,5 and 3,5. years.

The children were the reason why her father did not want to take her back to the home from which she left to get married.

- He told me, I sent you without children, I will take you back but without children, I do not love your children. I am a mother, how can I leave the children? That's why I still support myself and live in a shelter center. But now I feel better, I was transferred to another home where I have all the conditions, I started to take the children to kindergarten, I can walk freely. If I can find a job, I will save myself from this life, says this unhappy woman.

Another of our interlocutors spent only three months in the shelter center. And she is now the single mother of a seven-year-old girl.

- I did not want to go to the shelter center. I knew it was not easy, but it was my last resort. I left the dormitory several times and came back again. I was revolted why I had to leave. Shouldn't the abuser be removed from the home. What kind of justice is it for a mother with a small child to leave home without knowing what she is getting into and where she will end up? Still, I was determined. "I knew it was temporary, and that it was better than being beaten every day," said another of the women Free Press spoke to.

Seeking refuge from the perpetrator, the victims enter a completely unknown terrain, which is impossible to leave before the period set by the Center for Social Activities has passed. The use of mobile phones or other means of communication is not allowed in the shelter centers, in order to prevent the victim from contact with the outside world. This is the first blow that women receive, who are already traumatized, but an additional problem is the fact that they are not allowed to take their children with them if they are boys and have turned 14 years old.

Savka Todorovska, president of the Women's Union of Macedonia, says that women's awareness has changed, and now, unlike before, fewer women want to be placed in a shelter center.

- They are aware that they have the right to the home in which they live. Even if it is not bought with joint funds, even if it is the inheritance of the husband, if he is a bully, the wife asks the police to remove her from the home. I am especially glad that the women came to their senses in some way and realized that they do not have to be beaten and run away from home with the children in their arms. Now it remains to start applying the amendments to the Law on Domestic Violence which provide for the perpetrator to be removed from the home, upon the report of the victim, says Todorovska.

The National Network against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence says that the police have the opportunity to propose to the court to impose a measure to remove the perpetrator from the home, regardless of ownership.

- When dealing with a case of domestic violence, the police have the opportunity to propose to the court to impose a measure to remove the perpetrator from the home, regardless of ownership, and a ban on approaching the home, but what usually happens in practice is the perpetrator to be left at home, and the victim is the one who is forced to leave, say the National Network against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

In Macedonia, there are 11 specialized services for care of victims of domestic violence in 6 planning regions, three in the Skopje region, one in the Southwest, two in the East, two in the Vardar region, one in the Southeast and two in the Pelagonija region.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy has opened eight specialized services for care of victims of domestic violence, of which two Crisis Centers in Prilep and Stip, (in which the accommodation of victims is from 24 to 72 hours, when there is knowledge of a serious real threat after life and health of a victim of domestic violence). The other Regional Centers for Victims of Domestic Violence are located in Skopje, Veles, Kocani, Sveti Nikole, Bitola and Ohrid and Strumica. In them, the victims can be cared for for at least 3 months with the possibility of extension for up to 1 year. The Crisis Center "Hope" and the Centers for Victims of Domestic Violence, organized by the Women of the City of Skopje, also function in Skopje. A total of 103 people can be accommodated in all these centers.