An international warning against the escalation of violence against women during the quarantine

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cautioned against a terrifying global surge in domestic violence amid the Corona pandemic, and urged governments to intensify their efforts to prevent violence against women.

Guterres said in a global video appeal via Twitter on Sunday that, over the past weeks, with increasing economic and social pressures and growing fears, the world is witnessing a horrific surge in domestic violence.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations said that the number of women calling support services had doubled in some countries, that health care providers and the police were exhausted, had staff shortages, and that local support groups were "paralyzed" or lacking funding.

A call for peace at home
Guterres explained in his appeal - which has been translated into French, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese and Russian - that the most threatening place of violence is the place where the oasis of safety for women and girls is supposed to be, it is the home, adding that it renews its previous call for peace in homes all over the world.

He pointed out that violence is not confined to the battlefields, recalling his recent call for a ceasefire in various parts of the world to help reduce the outbreak of the Corona epidemic.

He urged all governments to make preventing violence against women and redress the harm caused by this violence a key part of their national plans to tackle the Corona epidemic, calling on judicial systems to continue to prosecute "aggressors", calling in particular for the creation of emergency warning systems in pharmacies and grocery stores, which are the only places that It is still open in many countries.

Guterres stressed the need to create safe ways for women to seek support "without the aggressors noticing".

The United Nations said it was unable at this point to determine the number of women or girls who are subjected to domestic violence in the world as a result of domestic quarantine, but noted that one in three women experienced violence during their lifetime, and called on governments to continue to provide shelters for women who are subjected to violence.