THE BIG RONA LEADING TO THE RISE OF “INTIMATE TERRORISM”

When the home is not safe.

Post by: Siri Kota

    Domestic violence or “Intimate Terrorism” as some experts would call it, is not something new to many women and children around the world. But, due to the lockdown, we can see a drastic rise in domestic violence cases around the globe. Many women are not able to seek help and are forced to live with their abusive partners, confined to their houses with no outside support.

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    On April 15, 2020, Obaidul Haque Tutul, a Bangladeshi man live-streamed the murder of his wife, Tahmina Akhter on Facebook. He killed her with his machete in his house. The act was reportedly over a financial dispute caused due to the lockdown. The people who watched were horrified and did not know how to react to the cold-blooded murder that was being live-streamed. After her death, Tutul turned himself to the local police and the video was taken down from social media platforms.

    According to a recent survey conducted by Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), a Bangladeshi local Human Rights organisation interviewed around 17,000 women and children and found out that 848 women were tortured physically, 2,008 mentally, 85 sexually, 1,308 faced financial restrictions from their husbands. The survey also revealed that 4 women were raped, 1 killed and 20 women were sexually assaulted in April 2020.

And this is only in one country – Bangladesh.

    In 25 days between March 23 and April 16, 2020, the NCW received 239 complaints mainly through email and a WhatsApp number. This is almost double the number of complaints (123) received by them in the past 25 days, from February 27 to March 22.

    

    The Delhi police recorded a total event of women calling for help from their abusive partners were 2446 and pertained to the “Event type: Women”. Of these calls over 600 of them were “women abuse”, 23 calls reported rape and the majority 1612 for domestic violence.

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also said that due to lockdown where people are encouraged to stay home, there is likely an increase in domestic violence cases against women and children.

    The United Nations called on April 12, 2020, for an urgent action to combat the worldwide gush in domestic violence. “I urge all governments to put women’s safety first as they respond to the pandemic” The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres wrote on Twitter.

    But, governments largely failed to do so and failed to prepare for the way the new public health measures would take care of victims of domestic abuse as this lockdown has given their abusers a wonderful opportunity to abuse and terrorize their victims. But, the response to the virus has caused them irreparable harm that may have already occurred.

    In the Hubei province of China, the domestic violence cases have been tripled compared to the previous year. From 47 cases in February 2019 to 162 cases in February 2020. Lele a 26-year old woman from Anhui province, China was beaten up by her husband with an iron chair while holding their 11 months old daughter. Lele was previously abused by her husband for 6 years and tried reaching out for help, but the husband would get to know and abuse her even more. But, the COVID lockdown has made it far worse as she has no glimpse of hope to help her escape from this.

    There was a pattern here, Singapore showed a 33% rise in domestic violence, Brazil – 40% increase, Australia – 40% increase, Italy – 13.6% increase, France – 30% increase, Spain – 18% increase and Cyprus – 30% increase. New reports published by the UK has shown 25% increase and the USA reported a 35% increase in domestic violence cases.

    In India, the initial signs of the problem was first reported by the National Commission of Women (NCW) in mid-April which suggested that there was a 100% increase in domestic violence during the lockdown.

    Many activists believe that the statistics might not be showing the real extent of the problem, as most of these complaints, are through emails and a WhatsApp number, where many women do not have access to.

   “The health impacts of violence, particularly domestic violence on women and their children are significant. Violence against women can result in injuries and serious mental, physical, sexual and reproductive health problems including sexually transmitted infections, HIV and unplanned pregnancies” the WHO added in its note.  

While the police and authorities are concentrated on the lockdown, many families have taken this as an advantage to marry off their young daughters (minors) as a mean to “reduce the burden” on them. And those young girls usually do not have the means to escape this or contact the police or other helplines due to the lockdown. 

Domestic violence does not discriminate. It can happen to anyone from any race, gender, age, sexual orientation or religion can be the victim – or the perpetrator. It is important to know the signs of domestic violence (Recognize the pattern of domestic violence). 

If it is you who has gone through or is going through this, please remember that there are people who believe in you and are willing to help you. Anyone going through domestic violence can dial:

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India - Police helpline: 100

Women’s helpline: 181 or

 080 – 22943224/22943224 

Germany - National Women’s helpline: 08000 116016

The United Kingdom – National domestic violence helpline: 0808 2000 247

France – Violences Femmes Info: 3919

United Arab Emirates – Dubai Foundation for Women and Children: 800111