Research, data and specialsts oppinion show an alarming rise in domestic violence during the covid-19 pandemic and it’s probable deep traumatizing effects for millions of women and children
Confinement, lockdowns, and quarantines coupled with deteriorating socioeconomic conditions have now created a perfect storm. “These factors significantly increase the risks of intimate partner violence, with refugees, internally displaced and stateless persons among the most vulnerable,” according to the agency. But the “shadow pandemic” of violence against girls and women extends far beyond refugees and displaced war victims, with reports of domestic violence having increased by 30% in France, while calls to help lines have jumped 30% in Cyprus and 33% in Singapore.
“I can’t even have privacy in the bathroom — and now I have to endure this in a lockdown,” she wrote in a message sent late at night, to hide the communication from her husband.
Judith Lewis Herman, a renowned trauma expert at Harvard University Medical School, has found that the coercive methods domestic abusers use to control their partners and children “bear an uncanny resemblance” to those kidnappers use to control hostages and repressive regimes use to break the will of political prisoners.
Consider, too, that 50 percent of domestic abuse cases go unreported.
A New Covid-19 Crisis: Domestic Abuse Rises Worldwide
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/world/coronavirus-domestic-violence.html
Source: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/unhcr-global-covid-19-emergency-response-24-april-2020