The Women's Shelter's Privacy Policy

This privacy policy is established in accordance with the Act on the Protection of Personal Data and the Processing of Personal Data No. 90/2018. Our processing of your information may affect your right to privacy, which is protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

What is personal data?

Personal information is any information about you that allows us to identify you, directly or indirectly. This does not include anonymous data where all identifying information has been removed. The Women's Shelter is committed to storing all personally identifiable information in a safe and secure manner.

People seeking help at the Women's Shelter

Seeking help for sexual assault can be difficult. We therefore place great emphasis on the fact that you can seek help without giving your name. You can book an appointment under a pseudonym and do not have to give out your phone number or other information if you do not want to.

What information do we collect?

We usually ask for your first name and phone number when you book an appointment. We use your name to distinguish you from others in the booking system, to keep statistics on the number of people who contact us, and to be able to find you if you later request a certificate of your attendance. We only use your phone number to notify you if a consultant is unable to attend or to send you a reminder via SMS message 24 hours before the appointment. You can always opt out of these SMS messages. We do not use this information for any other purpose and we reiterate that you do not have to provide it to receive services from us.

When you book an appointment online, we ask for your name, phone number, email address, age and municipality. You can also send us more detailed explanations if you wish. We need your name, email address and phone number to manage the waiting list and contact you. We ask for your age to ensure that you are over 18 years old and to monitor the composition of the waiting list. We ask for your municipality so that we can point you to similar resources closer to you if this could shorten the wait for services.

Your information is only used to select the right consultant and provide you with the service. After that, it is deleted. Access to this data is limited to those employees who process waiting lists. If you send us an inquiry online, we will only use your information to respond to you.

Our online chat asks for an email address in case we are unable to complete the chat in real time and need to follow up.

How do we ensure data security?

Information about names, phone numbers and bookings is stored in a system with a third party. That party complies with privacy laws, has a duty to protect your data and is bound by confidentiality. We do not disclose this information to anyone else.

Inquiries and bookings from the website are sent to us by email and are deleted from the website immediately afterwards. If there is a security breach that could affect your rights or freedoms, Kvennaathvarfið will immediately notify the Icelandic Data Protection Authority. Our online chat is also operated by a third party.

Certificate

People often request a certificate of the number of interviews or an assessment of their well-being after sexual assault. If you report a violation, we sometimes receive a request for such certificates from the police, but we never send them unless you have given your informed and written consent. We do not keep the certificates with us after they have been provided.

Statistics and processing

During the first interview, we ask everyone to complete a report on the violence and their well-being. This questionnaire is anonymous and untraceable. We use this data to publish key figures in our annual report. We keep completed lists for five years before they are destroyed. We also regularly evaluate our activities with short, anonymous surveys to improve our services.

Sponsors of the Women's Shelter

Sponsors are extremely important to us, and trust and respect are of utmost importance to us in our relationships.

Information collection

We need to collect certain information in order to receive donations and send you news about our work. When you provide us with information through the website, by phone or by SMS for grants, we assume that you have agreed to this policy. We make a clear distinction between consulting and fundraising (information from consulting is never used to obtain grants).

We only collect what is necessary to collect the grant and contact you, such as name, address, phone, email, social security number, and payment information.

Use of information

We treat all information as confidential. We use it to collect grants, tell you how they are used, invite you to participate in surveys, or hear from you if you have questions about payments.

Data security

We ensure that all information is stored securely. Our staff is informed about the importance of data security and confidentiality. The Women's Shelter stores personal information in its systems for as long as required by law. If a security breach occurs, the Women's Shelter will immediately report it to the Icelandic Data Protection Authority.

Information disclosed to third parties

The Women's Shelter purchases services from partners to manage sponsors, such as database hosting and billing. These parties do not use your information for their own purposes and comply with privacy laws. The Women's Shelter requires partners to protect the data we provide to them. We share necessary information with banks or card companies to process your payments, and by providing us with this information, you consent to that sharing.

Women's Shelter Websites

Cookies and other technologies

When you visit kvennaathvarf.is or sjukast.is, you leave cookies behind. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device and collect information about how you use the website, for example where you come from and what content you view. Some of them are necessary for the website to function, others are used for statistics and advertising. A more detailed description of each cookie can be found in our cookie policy.

Cookies are stored on your device. You can always change the security settings in your browser to block or delete them.

Advertising and marketing

The Women's Shelter advertises on Google and Meta social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram) to reach those who may need our services and to raise funds. To measure the effectiveness of the ads and to show them to the right groups, we use measurement tools from these companies on our websites:

  • Google Analytics — statistics on how the website is used.
  • Google Ads — measuring advertising performance and displaying our ads on Google sites.
  • Meta Pixels — measuring the effectiveness of advertising and displaying our ads on Facebook and Instagram.

This means that we share information with third parties for advertising purposes. Google and Meta receive information about visits to our websites, such as which pages are viewed and when, and may use this to show you advertisements from us later. These companies are independent controllers of their own processing and may process the data outside the European Economic Area.

Email addresses of sponsors in advertising networks

When we promote fundraisers, we may share your email addresses or phone numbers with Google and Meta, either to reach them with ads or to exclude them from ads that are not relevant to them. The information is encrypted before it is shared, the ad networks are not allowed to use it for their own benefit, and it is deleted after use. You can always opt out of this, see “Your Choices” below.

Information from consultations is never used in advertising.

We reiterate that information about people who seek help from the Women's Shelter due to violence is never used in marketing, is never shared with advertising networks, and is never linked to advertising. The distinction between counseling and fundraising is absolute.

Your choice

You decide whether this data is used to show you ads:

  • You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings.
  • You can control Google ads at myadcenter.google.com.
  • You can control Meta ads in your Facebook or Instagram account settings.
  • You can ask us to remove you from target lists by sending an email to kvennaathvarf@kvennaathvarf.is.

General information about privacy

Request for information or changes

It is very important to us that you can trust us and have a pleasant relationship with Kvennaathvarfið. You have the right to know what personal information we store about you. You can contact us by phone at 562-6868 or send an email to kvennaathvarf@kvennaathvarf.is. You can also always change how we contact you or unsubscribe from our sponsor mailing list using the link at the bottom of our emails.

Individuals under the age of 18

If you are under 18 and contact us, we are required by law to report the matter to child protection. You cannot register as a monthly sponsor of the Women's Shelter if you are under 18 years of age.

Professional processing and training

We place great emphasis on ensuring that data is stored securely and that only staff at the Women's Shelter have access to it. Staff are trained in handling personal data and maintaining the utmost confidentiality. The Women's Shelter stores this data for as long as necessary in accordance with the law.

Changes to the policy

The Women's Shelter reserves the right to change this policy, but the latest version will always be available on our website.

Last updated August 1, 2026.