Huiselijk geweld: vrouwen worden vermoord 'door de maatregelen' tegen het Coronavirus

Steve Topple van The Canary schreef een artikel waarin hij in de kop stelt dat de Covid-19 crisis (ofwel: de Coronacrisis) vrouwen doodt, maar bepaald niet alleen door het virus. Een actiegroep roept de Britse regering dan ook middels een petitie op om maatregelen te  nemen tegen huiselijk geweld, zeker daar veel slachtoffers nu gedwongen thuiszitten.....

Door het gedwongen thuiszitten worden vrouwen die al het slachtoffer waren van huiselijk geweld, nog meer overgeleverd aan de psychopaat die hen mishandelt (Topple spreekt er niet over, maar hetzelfde geldt uiteraard voor incest slachtoffers/slachtoffertjes). Het aantal vrouwen dat wordt mishandeld is in bepaalde Chinese gebieden sinds de aanvang van de crisis verdriedubbeld..... In Groot-Brittannië wordt één derde van de vrouwen tijdens hun leven het slachtoffer van huiselijk geweld en in 2019 werden 1,6 miljoen (!!!) Britse vrouwen getroffen door dat geweld......

In GB heeft men de laatste jaren fiks bezuinigd op het aanpakken van huiselijk geweld, hoewel daar gezien het aantal slachtoffers en het geweld dat hen werd aangedaan, totaal geen reden toe was..... Het zal je dan ook niet verbazen dat het aantal meldingen van huiselijk geweld dat tot vervolging leidt, maar één derde bedraagt van het totaal aantal aangiften gedaan bij de politie, de rest wordt afgewezen, wat de slachtoffers niet zelden in een zeer gevaarlijke situatie brengt..... Het aantal vrouwen dat in GB wordt vermoord door de partners is gestegen van één tot drie vrouwen per week.... (!!!), daarbovenop nemen elke week drie vrouwen zich het leven daar zij in een uitzichtloze gewelddadige thuissituatie zitten, anders gezegd zij suïcideren zich om aan het geweld te ontsnappen .....

Je kan er donder op zeggen dat wat voor China en GB geldt, ook aan de hand is in ons land en ook hier wordt te weinig opgetreden tegen huiselijk geweld.... (overigens, er bestaat ook huiselijk geweld tegen mannen en ook dat huiselijk geweld zal zijn toegenomen, doordat men nu noodgedwongen veel meer tijd door moet brengen met de gewelddadige partner....)

The Covid-19 crisis is killing women. But it’s not the virus doing it.

Steve Topple
23rd March 2020

Content warning: contains discussion of domestic violence

A campaign group is calling on the government to act quickly in the face of coronavirus (Covid-19). But it’s not asking for it to put more measures in place to slow the pandemic. The group is urging the government to act over a “hidden crisis” that’s “killing women in their masses”. It’s not coronavirus. It’s domestic violence.

Coronavirus: the hidden impact?

Many countries around the world have put social distancing and isolation measures in place. This is because of the coronavirus pandemic. China was one of the first countries to do this. It reportedly put 760 million people in isolation, confining them to their homes. The Italian government called in the army to enforce its citizens’ isolation. France and Spain are both on lockdown. But a side effect of this has been an upsurge in women reporting domestic violence.

The campaign group Women’s Lives Matter Yorkshire (WLMY) has been active for several years. It has been campaigning over cuts and changes to domestic violence services. But now, it’s growing increasingly concerned about the implications of coronavirus.

A global crisis

Amy Cousens and Louise Harrison from Women’s Lives Matter told The Canary:

There is a hidden crisis across the globe that is killing women in their masses. It’s not coronavirus, it’s domestic violence.

As we entered 2020 the number of women murdered every week by a partner or ex-partner in the UK rose to 3. We know that on top of this 3 women a week kill themselves to escape abuse. For women needing to self isolate who are going through domestic violence, it’s a double whammy. Domestic violence perpetrators use many tactics to control and isolate victims from support mechanisms. And now, around the globe, coronavirus is being used as another tool.

The reported figures from various countries show an increase in domestic violence. For example:

• In some parts of China the number of domestic violence cases has been three times higher since the pandemic started.
• A support service in Oregon, US has seen the number of calls it received double.
• Support services in Australia are worried, as the 2019/20 fires had already caused a surge in domestic violence cases.
  

In the US, as NBC reported, concerns are growing. It heard from the chief executive of one domestic violence charity who said:

she heard from survivors of abusers who threatened to kick them out of the house, who made them wash their hands until they were “raw and bleeding” and abusers who made them stay home from work.

But Women’s Lives Matter Yorkshire is also really concerned about the situation in the UK.

The UK situation

Cousens and Harrison told The Canary:

As coronavirus forces us indoors in the UK, women and all victims of domestic violence are at risk.

This is on top of a funding crisis within our domestic violence services and refuges. In January of this year it was released that two-thirds of referrals to domestic violence refuges are rejected. They are over run and over stretched with a lack of secure funding. We do not have enough beds as it is. If the government does not act on the demands in our petition then we know that more women’s lives will be lost. It was once said that a society can be judged by… [the] way it treats women, will our government ensure our lives matter?

As the charity Refuge reported, in the UK:

• Almost one in three women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime.
• 1.6 million women experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2019.
  

Given the global reports, it is likely the increase in domestic violence due to coronavirus will be seen in the UK. But so far, the government has done nothing to support domestic violence victims and survivors during the pandemic.
So, Women’s Lives Matter Yorkshire is urging it to act.

Sweeping measures needed

It has launched a petition. It’s calling on the government to put in place emergency measures to protect victims of domestic abuse. The group is calling for:

• “Use empty hotel rooms, B&Bs and re-appropriate empty properties to safely house victims needing to flee abusive situations”.
• “Put measures in place to assist victims to safely leave the home and get to secure accommodation”.
• “Immediately give substantial funding to current domestic violence refuges”. The group also wants the “refuges that have been cut under austerity” to be replaced, and the government to fund more new refuges.
• “Emergency funds for those fleeing violence to support them with immediate provisions such as transport, food, etc”.
• “Treat domestic violence specialists as key workers”.
• “Seek to reach out to specialist workers who have lost their jobs due to domestic violence service closures and re-deploy their skills to new services”.
  

But will the UK government act?

Safeguarding business before women?

Cousens and Harrison summed up the situation:

The government has shown in its measures to safeguard business that there is money available. We need this money to properly fund refuges.

Over recent years, domestic violence victims and survivors have seen support eroded thanks to austerity. With successive governments cutting millions of pounds from domestic violence services, there is now a perfect storm brewing for countless women. The government needs to act, and quickly. Ideally before there are more deaths caused by coronavirus; ones that aren’t directly due to Covid-19 itself.

Featured image via Grand Forks Air Force Base / pixabay – mattthewafflecat
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Zie ook:
'Coronavirus: in tijden van crisis moet het kabinet totale openheid geven' (en zie de links in dat bericht, anders dan de hier getoonde)

'Beursgenoteerde bedrijven hebben eigen aandelen ingekocht en hebben nu door de Coronacrisis steun nodig van de overheid' 

'Grote bendes met apen vechten voor voedsel op de straten van Thailand'

'Coronavirus: Bruno Bruins slachtoffer van overwerken? 'Slachtoffer' van disfunctioneren zal je bedoelen!' 
 
'Coronavirus advies voor ouderen van ANBO directeur den Haan' 

'Coronavirus: VS roept alle burgers op terug te keren naar huis' (was dat maar waar: alle VS burgers, inclusief de militairen...)

'Coronavirus: alles wijst erop dat dit virus uit een militair laboratorium van de VS komt'