A/HRC/7/6 page 27 violence requires the integration of programmes for education, retraining and establishing sustainable livelihoods. Women’s self-defence programmes have proved effective in removing the debilitating effects of fear. 100. Measuring support services must move beyond counting the number of shelter or refuge places to embrace the range of services, their distribution per head of population and across the geography of States. There is also the question of unmet demand. Many NGOs report more need for their services than they can meet; shelters are full, helplines engaged, and there are waiting lists to see advocates and counsellors. National statistical agencies/offices and support service networks should work together to produce a robust methodology to estimate need and unmet demand. 101. Virtually no State can claim to have comprehensive support systems for all forms of violence against women with equality of access between urban and rural areas and across all social groups.33 Standards here have to be calculated with reference to the size of the population and local prevalence of violence against women. For instance, a small number of shelter places is appropriate for a small country, but if shelters are the only service for intimate partner violence and other forms of violence against women, and/or there are high 12-month prevalence rates, the number of required places will be higher. In many jurisdictions, responses have developed catering for specific forms of abuse, whereas in others provision is more holistic. At the national level, an index of support needs to be constructed with access calculated through capacity, population ratios and 12-month prevalence findings. The precise contours of the index will be contained in a technical report to be agreed by nation States. 102. It has been argued that indicators should address more complex matters, such as whether services are available free of charge, 24/7, and accessible by all women. A study by the Council of Europe34 uses a binary yes/no to assess these questions, but what is being measured here is uncertain. Does “yes” mean that a/some/most/all services fulfil these standards? It is not possible to operationalize a meaningful international indicator on these matters, but they are important measures to be assessed at the national level, including the availability of services to disadvantaged groups. Proposed indicator 103. The protection indicator is an increase in the index of support services signifying an extension of specialized provision. 33 See Coy, M; Kelly, L. and Foord, J. (2007), Map of Gaps, available from www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/documents/Map_of_Gaps.pdf, for a methodology of how to map the availability of violence against women support services. 34 Council of Europe (2006), Combating violence against women: Stocktaking study on the measures and actions taken in Council of Europe Member States.