During these weeks of lockdown caused by coronavirus, domestic violence is raising the alarm: it is much harder for victims to report their abusers.
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Staying at home is the best solution to contain the spread of coronavirus, protecting one's own health and that of others. In the eyes of a woman who lives with a violent partner or family member, however, home is anything but a safe refuge. Over these past few weeks, reports of domestic violence have been multiplying from one end of the planet to the other. And it is reasonable to imagine that a great many go unheard, because it is difficult to file a report when you are forced within four walls together with your abuser.
The issue is sparking heated debate in France, where 149 femicides were committed in 2019 and it is estimated that more than 200,000 women are victims of domestic violence every year. Since the Covid-19 isolation began, calls to the dedicated freephone number 3919 have dropped. This figure, however, is only apparently positive, notes Novethic, because in the meantime there was a surge in reports to the police (+32 per cent) and the gendarmerie (+36 per cent) in the first week of quarantine.
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In short, many women are not openly asking for help simply because they are not objectively in a position to do so. To get around this obstacle, the Interior Ministry has invited them to contact the emergency number 114 — previously reserved for people with hearing disabilities — by text message as well. At the same time, it has set up a network of reporting systems inside pharmacies and shopping centres. Finally, it has allocated a fund of one million euros for associations against violence against women, also guaranteeing the availability of twenty thousand nights in hotel facilities where women can stay safely (a number still too low relative to actual needs, activists respond).
Since the beginning of 2020, at least 86 femicides have been recorded in Argentina: in March alone there were 24, one every 29 hours. Among the victims are Cristina Iglesias and her daughter Ada, just seven years old, whose bodies were found buried in the courtyard of their home. The official figures come from the Observatorio ahora que si nos ven, as cited by Al Jazeera.
Several organisations, however, believe the real victim count to be considerably higher: statistics show that in 62 per cent of cases femicides take place within the home, and in 65 per cent of cases they are committed by the partner or ex-partner. In the country, quarantine measures were introduced on 15 March and will remain in force until at least 12 April. According to the latest bulletin issued by the health authorities, confirmed coronavirus cases stand at 1,133, with 31 deaths.
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From China to Spain, from Brazil to Italy, from Germany to the United Kingdom, there appear to be no exceptions to this proliferation of domestic violence.
In Spain, on 2 April the threshold of 10,000 coronavirus deaths was crossed and containment measures are particularly strict. Despite this, the government has ordered that anti-violence centres remain open. Women in danger can also be accommodated in hotels along with their children. In the first two weeks of lockdown, the Ministry for Equal Opportunities reported a 12.4 per cent increase in calls to the freephone number for gender-based violence, compared with the same period last year. Website visits, meanwhile, recorded a +270 per cent rise.
The same phenomenon had already been observed in China, where the pandemic originated. Local media report a spike in reports of domestic violence in Hubei province: in February 2019 there were 47, while during the February 2020 quarantine there were as many as 162.
