THE COVID-19 global health pandemic is having a complex and multifold effect on our society, both at home and in the wider international arena. As most nations continue to record growing numbers of the virus amongst their populations, the measures that our governments have taken to curb the spread of the disease are having nuanced and significant effects on our societies; not only in the outer world and macrocos,m but especially in the microcosm and home world. The legislative measures taken to ensure all of our health and safety because of COVID19 is having a detrimental effect on women and children, because of interspousal and domestic violence.

Because of the physical distancing guidelines put in place to ensure we stop COVID-19, we are all spending more time at home than we might have been accustomed to, and often in the company of our families, spouses and children. Whilst the notion of quarantine has been widely romanticised in popular culture, perhaps to assuage some of our anxieties about COVID-19, the reality for approximately one in three women in the world is that they will experience, or currently experiencing, some form of domestic violence or abuse at home. Due to the new measures, however, women and children are now spending more time at home with their abusers, and it is having a deeply disturbing and particularly heinous effect, as reports of increased interspousal violence and abuse are already starting to materialise.

For many women, abuse comes in various forms, ranging from physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse. Domestic violence and abuse are not just commonplace in the Caribbean and Latin America; it is truly a global pandemic. The United Nations (UN) has noted that in South Africa during the first week of their lockdown, there were more than 90,000 reports of violence against women. In Lebanon and Malaysia, the UN reports that calls to help lines had doubled, as compared to the same period last year. In China, the number of calls has tripled, and in Australia, there has been a 75% increase in Online searches for help with domestic violence, according to a Google report. Certainly, here in Guyana, we are all too familiar with the outcome of domestic violence, which is sadly reflected in the number of femicides and crimes against women we record each year.

Figures from Europe show a clear trend, and researchers have already seen a spike in the number of domestic violence reports, as well as an increase in the number of women seeking help for the same. Kika Fumero of the Canary Islands Institute for Equality in Spain noted that in line with previously-recorded spikes in reports of domestic violence or abuse during times of confinement because of floods or holidays, the introduction of COVID-19-related measures has already had a marked effect on reports of domestic violence. In the first two weeks of the new measures, the gender-based violence helpline in Spain received 18% more calls, as compared to the same period in the previous month. Similarly, in France, the government has said that police reports of domestic violence have gone up by a third since the COVID-19 lockdown measures came into force, whilst E-mail contact for help is up 286%. Again, in Belgium, calls to a listening service of the Collective Against Family Violence and Exclusion have increased three-fold.

As a result of the increased violence against women during this time of COVID-19, the Canary Islands Institute for Equality has launched a campaign called, Mascarilla-19 or Mask-19. The campaign works in collaboration with pharmacies, which are some of the few places persons are able to access freely. As a way of signaling that a woman needs help, the codeword, ‘Mascarilla-19’ is used, and the pharmacist obtains the woman’s name, contact number and address and she is able to wait for help at the location or return home and await assistance from the relevant authorities. Mask-19 has now been adopted in France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Argentina.

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has cited the sharp increase in domestic violence amid the COVID19 global lockdown and has called on authorities to take appropriate action. “I urge all governments to make the prevention and redress of violence against women a key part of their national response plan to COVID-19”, he asserted.
The Ministry of Social Protection’s Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Policy Unit has created a hotline and safe space for victims of domestic violence in Guyana. The 24-hour helpline is 640-1011 and the safe space has accommodation for families with children up to 14 years old. Women are able to engage the services of the police as well as receive counselling services available at the facility. The scourge of violence against women must be eliminated and we cannot allow the silent war at home to traumatize our woman and children any further. We must invoke our collective will to end this global pandemic.