International
Domestic Violence Reports Increase During Coronavirus Lockdowns
Published
3 years agoon
By
Katie Calo
- Domestic violence experts and advocates across the globe have projected the issue has and will worsen during the coronavirus crisis as people are forced to stay home with abusers.
- Many have seen an increase in calls for help and reports being made from victims. Agencies that have seen a drop in calls fear this indicates more abuse is occurring with less freedom to request help.
- On top of economic hardships, some victims have been hesitant to seek medical care and feel forced to choose between leaving an abusive home or risking exposure to the virus.
- Some government officials have tried to curb the rising problem, with Greenland banning alcohol and Spain making exceptions to stay-at-home orders for those seeking help.
Domestic Violence Numbers Rising
As the coronavirus prompts stay-at-home orders around the world and forces more and more people indoors, an increase of another deadly force is being seen: domestic violence.
Reports from all over the world indicate these incidents are on the rise, a phenomenon that has been seen before in the wake of other emergency crises.
“The very technique we are using to protect people from the virus can perversely impact victims of domestic violence,” Anita Bhatia, the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Women told TIME.
In Hubei, where the coronavirus originated, reports of domestic violence to law enforcement tripled in one county alone during a February lockdown, from 47 last year to 162 this year, according to what activists told local media outlets.
“According to our statistics, 90% of the causes of violence [in this period] are related to the Covid-19 epidemic,” Wan Fei, a retired police officer who founded a charity to combat abuse, told Sixth Tone website.
A sinister pattern appears to be forming as the coronavirus continues its global spread.
A Brazilian judge specializing in domestic violence speculated that it has increased by up to 50% due to coronavirus-related restrictions. Hotlines in Spain have reported a spike in the number of calls.
Since Lockdown:
— nazir afzal (@nazirafzal) March 27, 2020
Domestic Abuse up 32% in Paris, 40% in Australia
Similar increases everywhere
If you’re a victim:
Police will always attend your home
A place of safety will be found
Legal steps taken to protect you
The pandemic will not stop the epidemic of abuse
We all will
Similar reports have been seen in the United States as well. Officials at an abuse shelter in Charlottesville, North Carolina said their calls for domestic incidents have shot up by 40%. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Sgt. Scott Evett reinforced this notion, saying the department is “looking at a 17 percent increase” in their domestic violence calls.
Many more helplines have reported spikes like these.
“We know that when there’s added stress in the home it can increase the frequency and severity of abuse. We’re trying to prepare survivors for that,” Katie Ray-Jones, chief executive of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, told the Washington Post. “There is a lot of uncertainty about what is even possible right now — if you need to call the police, what does that look like?”
Some police forces have actually seen a drop in domestic violence calls recently, but fear this is an indication that victims are being abused in silence, with less freedom and space from their abuser to report crimes.
Law enforcement agencies are sending out messages reminding people how to trigger silent alerts.
Are you worried about being at home with your partner during #CoronaLockdown?
— South Wales Police | #StayHomeSaveLives (@swpolice) March 29, 2020
You aren’t alone, we are here to help and we will come to you.
In an emergency, always dial 9️⃣9️⃣9️⃣.
For silent help, dial 9️⃣9️⃣9️⃣ and then press 5️⃣5️⃣.
^cy pic.twitter.com/9i29hiaebg
Activists in Italy said they have seen a sharp drop in calls but an influx of requests for help through texts and emails, which can sometimes be sent with more discretion.
“One message was from a woman who had locked herself in the bathroom and wrote to ask for help,” Lella Palladino, who is with an activists’ group for the prevention of violence against women, told the Guardian. “For sure there is an overwhelming emergency right now. There is more desperation as women can’t go out.”
In addition to contributing to an increase in domestic violence, the pandemic is hindering victims’ access to services meant to help them. Some might not leave their abusers because they fear violating stay-at-home orders or risking exposure to COVID-19 in public spaces.
“Maybe their child has special needs or medical needs and they don’t want to be in a group setting, so they’re choosing not to go to a shelter because the risk of their child being infected by the virus is higher than their risk of physical violence, so they’ll manage the risk of staying home through this,” Maureen Curtis, vice president of a victims’ assistance association in New York, told the Washington Post.
Other victims have expressed similar fears, reporting that they haven’t sought medical care for fear of being exposed to the virus in facilities, even after suffering injuries from domestic violence.
Job layoffs and economic hardships also present challenges, as domestic violence victims have a harder time leaving if they are financially dependent on their abuser.
Responses to Spikes
Advocates across the globe are trying to address the added challenges that have risen for those vulnerable to and suffering from domestic violence.
Spain is one of the countries that has been hit hardest by the coronavirus and authorities have been taking their stay-at-home orders extremely seriously, issuing fines to those that violate them by going out. But the government has told women that they will not be penalized for leaving their homes to report abuse.
Katrin Göring-Eckardt, the German Green party’s parliamentary leader, is pushing for the same exceptions in her country. She is also urging the government to allocate money for safe houses where victims can retreat to, suggesting empty hotels be used for this measure.
An Italian prosecutor has ruled that if domestic violence is found in a home, the abuser must leave, not the victim.
Twenty-four U.S. senators — including presidential candidate Bernie Sanders — wrote a letter to officials at the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Justice in a push to protect domestic violence victims and survivors. The senators requested that organizations set up to help domestic violence victims “have the flexibility, resources, and information needed to continue to provide these critical services during the pandemic.”
Greenland has taken a unique approach in its effort to help those affected by domestic abuse. After the country closed down its schools, forcing children indoors for longer periods of time, it saw a worrisome spike in these numbers, according to the government.
“Unfortunately, in Nuuk, domestic violence has been on the rise in recent weeks,” Health Minister Martha Abelsen said.
Greenland’s government announced a ban on the sale of alcohol in the capital city of Nuuk in an effort to curb violence against children as families are required to shelter in. The World Health Organization has found evidence that alcohol consumption ups the frequency and severity of domestic violence.
“In such a situation, we have to take numerous measures to avoid infection,” government leader Kim Kielsen said in a statement on Saturday. “But at the heart of my decision is the protection of children, they have to have a safe home.”
See what others are saying: (Guardian) (BBC) (Washington Post)
International
U.S. Intel Suggests Pro-Ukraine Group Sabotaged Nord Stream Pipeline
Published
2 weeks agoon
March 8, 2023By
Chris Tolve
There is no evidence that the culprits behind the attack were acting under the direction of the Ukrainian government.
Europe Braces for Shocking Revelations
A pro-Ukraine group blew up the Nord Stream pipelines last September, intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials suggests.
The New York Times reported the news Tuesday, citing officials who said there was no evidence of involvement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, any of his top lieutenants, or any government officials.
The strength of the evidence, however, is not clear, and U.S. officials declined to inform The Times on the nature of the intelligence or how it was obtained. They reportedly added that the intelligence indicates neither who the group’s members are nor who funded and directed the operation.
The Times’ sources said they believe the saboteurs were most likely Russian or Ukrainian nationals and that they possibly received specialized government training in the past.
It’s also possible that the group behind the attack was a proxy with covert ties to Kyiv, the report added.
When three of four Nord Stream pipelines were found to be severely damaged last year, the revelation shook markets and sent European gas prices soaring. Nord Stream 1, which was completed in 2011, and Nord Stream 2, which had been laid down but wasn’t yet operational, supplied Germany and by extension the rest of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas.
Following the explosions, Poland and Ukraine blamed Russia, and Russia blamed Britain. Other observers speculated that Ukraine might be behind it too.
More Ongoing Investigations
Last month, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh claimed in a Substack article that the United States military carried out the attack and that President Biden authorized it himself. However, Hersh’s report cited only one anonymous source in support of its central claim, so it was largely dismissed as not credible.
Western governments expressed caution on Wednesday in response to The Times report.
“There are ongoing national investigations and I think it’s right to wait until those are finalized before we say anything more about who was behind it,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.
Russia, by contrast, pounced on the opportunity to renew its demand for inclusion in a proposed international probe into the pipeline explosion.
The Ukrainian government denied any involvement in the Nord Stream explosions.
On Wednesday, multiple German media outlets reported that investigators have largely reconstructed how the attack happened, pinning the blame on six people who allegedly used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company in Poland.
German officials reportedly searched a vessel suspected of carrying the explosives in January, but the investigation is ongoing.
The country’s defense minister suggested the explosions may have been a “false flag” attack to smear Ukraine.
See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (Associated Press) (Reuters)
International
Turkey, Syria Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 41,000 as Survivors Pulled from Rubble
Published
1 month agoon
February 15, 2023By
Chris Tolve
A pair of brothers spent around 200 hours trapped under debris, living off of protein powder and their own urine.
A Humanitarian Crisis Explodes
The number of confirmed dead from the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria last week has surpassed 41,000.
Millions more people have been left stranded without adequate shelter, food, clean water, or medical supplies.
At night, the region has dropped to below-freezing temperatures.
Now health authorities are worried that the lack of sanitation infrastructure, which was damaged by the quakes, will lead to a disease outbreak.
“We haven’t been able to rinse off since the earthquake,” 21-year-old Mohammad Emin, whose home was destroyed, told Reuters.
He was helping out at a clinic serving displaced people in an open-air stadium, but with no showers and only six toilets, the resource shortage was poignant.
“They are offering tetanus shots to residents who request them, and distributing hygiene kits with shampoo, deodorant, pads and wipes,” added Akin Hacioglu, a doctor at the clinic.
The World Health Organization monitors the population for waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid, as well as seasonal influenza and COVID-19.
Rescuers Race Against the Clock
After more than a week of searching, hopes that more living victims will be found amid the collapsed buildings are fading, but rescuers continue to pull out the final few survivors.
Abdulbaki Yeninar, 21, and his brother Muhammed Enes Yeninar, 17, spent about 200 hours under rubble in the city of Kahramanmaras before they were extracted Tuesday. They told reporters they held on by eating protein powder, drinking their own urine, and swallowing gulps of air.
In the same city, teams dug a 16-foot tunnel through debris to rescue a woman, and to the south, a volunteer mining crew joined the efforts to save another.
With no homes to go back to, some survivors have joined the ranks of volunteers themselves.
In the past week, more than 35,000 Turkish search-and-rescue teams worked alongside thousands of international workers in the effort, according to Turkey’s emergency management agency.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called the earthquakes the “disaster of the century” and said in a statement that at least 13,000 people were being treated in hospitals.
The death toll is expected to rise even further in the coming weeks.
See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
International
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Resigns
Published
1 month agoon
February 15, 2023By
Star Pralle
“In my head and in my heart I know that time is now,” she said to reporters
Sturgeon Steps Down
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation on Wednesday.
Sturgeon has been Scotland’s longest-serving First Minister and she is also the first woman to ever hold the position. She has been in politics since 1999, leading the charge for Scotland’s independence from the United Kingdom. Sturgeon also guided the country through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sturgeon made sure to mention that her decision was not in response to the latest round of political pressure she is facing after her recent controversies regarding gender reform. Rather, her reasons are rooted in her own personal struggle with whether she can continue to do the job well.
“To be clear, I am not expecting violins here. But I am a human being as well as a politician,” she said during a press conference on Wednesday. “My point is this – giving absolutely everything of yourself to this job is the only way to do it. The country deserves nothing less. But, in truth, that can only be done by anyone for so long.
“For me, it is now in danger of becoming too long,” Sturgeon continued. “A First Minister is never off-duty. Particularly in this day and age, there is virtually no privacy. Even ordinary stuff that most people take for granted like going for a coffee with friends or going for a walk on your own becomes very difficult.”
Sturgeon’s Political Future
Sturgeon’s approval ratings are reportedly the lowest they’ve been since she’s been in office. Regardless, many political figures in Scotland, as well as the U.K., have applauded her and her historic service as First Minister.
There are still several unknowns moving forward. There is still no confirmation on who will take over the position. However, Sturgeon did say that she will serve until someone else is elected.
The push for Scotland’s independence is hanging in limbo as well, and no one knows what it’ll look like without Sturgeon’s leadership. She did mention, however, that she does not intend to leave politics fully and will still fight for the cause as a lawmaker in Parliament.
Sturgeon said the support for Scottish independence needs to be solidified and grow.
“To achieve that we need to reach across the divide in Scottish politics,” she said. “And my judgment now is that this needs a new leader.”
See what others are saying: (New York Times) (BBC) (The Washington Post)

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