With everyone under lockdown, it is being feared that cases of domestic violence and abuse will spike in the coming days. It has already been reported that cases of abuse are on the rise in Europe. The stress caused by social isolation coupled with fears around job security and financial difficulties is exacerbating tensions and increasing the risk of domestic and sexual violence against women and children.
“For many people, their home is already not a safe place,” says a German federal association of women’s counselling centres and helplines.
The case in Pakistan is also similar. You may have read accounts of people relating stories of their domestic staff begging them to let them come to work because they are miserable at their homes and face abuse there.
Keeping this in mind, the Ministry of Human Rights has launched a helpline for those who are vulnerable or are facing any kind of abuse.
In a tweet, the ministry shared the numbers of helplines and wrote, “Lockdowns and quarantine measures often leave women and children vulnerable to domestic abuse and violence – which is known to rise during emergencies.”
“Our helpline is here to help you,” they added.
Last week, The Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker Bowles, also extended her support and reached out to those who may be victims of domestic violence and abuse.
Meanwhile, according to a report in The Guardian, “Women and children who live with domestic violence have no escape from their abusers during quarantine, and from Brazil to Germany, Italy to China, activists and survivors say they are already seeing an alarming rise in cases of abuse.”
For example, in Hubei province, the heart of the initial coronavirus outbreak, domestic violence reports to police more than tripled in one county alone during the lockdown in February, activists told local media.
AFP reported that in Spain, which has the second-worst outbreak in Europe after Italy, a 35-year-old mother of two was murdered by her partner last week in front of their children in the coastal province of Valencia.
France’s interior minister Christophe Castaner revealed that reports of domestic violence across the country have jumped by more than 30% since the country went into lockdown on March 17th. Castaner said that in Paris alone, cases were up by 36%.
Activists say the increased threat to women and children was a predictable side effect of the coronavirus lockdowns. According to them, increased abuse “is a pattern repeated in many emergencies, whether conflict, economic crisis or during disease outbreaks, although the quarantine rules pose a particularly grave challenge.”
Women rights activists across the world are demanding their governments not to overlook those most vulnerable in these situations and help them out in whichever way possible. However, they fear that if the lockdown continues, cases of domestic violence could reach unprecedented heights.
