What Hides In The Shadows Of The Pandemic? Domestic Violence

Several United Nations’ reports indicate that since the outbreak of the pandemic, empirical research suggests that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, has intensified. As the United Nations warns: “This is the Shadow Pandemic growing amidst the Covid-19 crisis and we need a global collective effort to stop it. As Covid-19 cases continue to strain health services, essential services, such as domestic violence shelters and helplines, have reached capacity. More needs to be done to prioritize addressing violence against women in Covid-19 response and recovery efforts.” 

This increase in domestic violence is concerning as even before Covid-19 the issue of domestic violence was at a high level and far from being resolved. These concerning facts are as follows: 

“1 in 3 women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most frequently by an intimate partner;

Worldwide, almost 750 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday; while 200 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation;

1 in 2 women killed worldwide were killed by their partners or family in 2012; while only 1 out of 20 men were killed under similar circumstances;

71% of all human trafficking victims worldwide are women and girls, and 3 out of, 4 of these women and girls are sexually exploited.”

November 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a United Nations day designated to highlight the issue of violence against women and girls and to call for more action to combat it. Over time, the day has evolved into a global, widespread initiative that now incorporates 16 Days of Activism and the UNiTE campaigns. This significant United Nations focus on the issue is justified by the very data on the relevance of violence against women globally. 

Shamefully, in 2020, we are nowhere near eliminating violence against women. Among the different forms of violence, rape and sexual violence remain under-reported, and under-discussed crimes, something which needs to change both within and outside situations of conflict.

Rape and sexual violence in conflict used to be perceived as inevitable by-products of war, the spoils of an invading army or a successful conqueror. However, the international community now recognizes that rape and sexual violence is often used as a deliberate military strategy to demoralize an enemy. This shift in recognition has been significant, especially as it has allowed for the prosecution of sexual violence in conflict. In accordance with this new perception, on June 19, 2008, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1820 on the use of sexual violence in war, indicating that “rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide.”

Rape and sexual violence are not exclusive to conflicts. Indeed, 1 in 3 women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most frequently by an intimate partner. If this is the case, it is correct to assume that we all must know someone who has experienced such violence. This also means that we all must know the perpetrators. As such, the issue is not as out of sight as one would think.

However, violence against women is not only about rape. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” Violence against women may take the form of “intimate partner violence (battering, psychological abuse, marital rape, femicide); sexual violence and harassment (rape, forced sexual acts, unwanted sexual advances, child sexual abuse, forced marriage, street harassment, stalking, cyber- harassment); human trafficking (slavery, sexual exploitation); female genital mutilation; and child marriage.” 

While international bodies and states have been taking steps to address violence against women, this is and will never be enough. Such violence requires unity in purpose and all members of society working together to combat it.