Domestic Abuse: A surging crisis in times of COVID

Staying home and maintaining social distance has become an obligation for many during the coronavirus pandemic. Often overlooked by the average Joe, staying home may sound simple but it does more harm than good to a handful of others. Victims of domestic abuse must stay home for a long period of time with their perpetrators, not to mention various lockdown rules that limit their ability to seek help. Statistics have shown a surge of domestic violence reports, and although depressing, the real data will exceed the amount that has been reported.Â

Refuge, a United Kingdom based charity to aid women and children in domestic abuse, has reported a 700% increase in calls dailyÂ¹. Denmark’s Lev Uden Vold (Life Without Violence), however, has reported a 50% decline in the first week of the country’s lockdown while calls requesting for emergency shelters spikedÂ². Domestic violence reports in France have a 30% increase during lockdownÂ². With an increasing number of unemployment, stress levels in different households also surges. Marianne Hester of Bristol University told the New York Times that domestic violence always increases during the holidays where families would often gatherÂ³.

It’s also important to remember that domestic abuse doesn’t exclusively affect women and children, but also men and members of other age groups. Senior citizens are also at significant risk of domestic violence during the pandemic. They are more vulnerable not only to the virus due to health conditions common at such age, but also increased risk factors to abuse, neglect, and exploitation. According to American Bar Association, a rising number of caregivers are ignoring their duties to provide care and meet the needs of elderlies who rely on them due to fear of the coronavirus. Local services are also curtailing and elderlies face more trouble to help themselves day by day. Apart from that, scammers also take advantage of senior citizens especially in terms of health insurance and financial informationâ´.Â

A multitude of efforts to tackle down these issues have been proposed in different countries. For instance, the French and Italian government funds hotel rooms to be opened for victims of domestic violence. Those suffering from abuse in Spain can visit pharmacies with caution and give the code word “Mask 19” so authorities can be alerted. A number of hotlines are also available in Indonesia, ready to provide help with just a phone call away. A list of Indonesian domestic abuse hotlines are attached below if you or your loved ones ever need it.Â