Coronavirus: domestic violence on the rise in countries under confinement

Text by: RFI Follow

At a time when a third of the planet is concerned by containment measures to fight the coronavirus epidemic, domestic violence is increasing in several countries. This is the case in France where the executive has implemented a new alert system.

Publicity

In France, since the start of confinement imposed against the epidemic, domestic violence has increased by a third. Faced with this increase, the Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced, Thursday, March 26, the establishment of a new alert system. Women victims of violence will be able to go to a pharmacy and benefit from immediate protection from the police or gendarmerie.

It is still too early to accurately assess the extent of the violence taking place behind closed doors . But several associations, such as Solidarité-femmes-accueil (Solfa), have indeed reported, with concern, a drop in the daily rate of calls for women in distress.

The initiative to put pharmacies in the alert loop is therefore welcomed by Delphine Beauvais, from La Solfa. But she warns: if a woman calls the police directly, the police must intervene urgently.

Delphine Beauvais reacts to the government's latest plan against domestic violence

Australia unlocks millions

In Australia, even before residents' outings were limited to what was strictly necessary this Sunday, the epidemic increased the risk of domestic violence. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says that on the Internet, requests related to situations of violence in the home have increased by 75% since the first measures taken by the government.

The Women's Safety association is witnessing an increase in calls for help in the state of New South Wales, the most populous of the island continent.

In response, the executive decided to allocate 150 million Australian dollars (82 million euros), specifically to the fight against domestic violence, in particular through the associations which manage emergency telephone numbers. This aid is part of a larger budget, one billion Australian dollars (552 million euros), intended to strengthen social and health services in the context of the coronavirus epidemic.

The bad Chinese example

China has long been the showcase of the problem. While some announced a birth boom nine months after confinement, it was, on the contrary, the first country to witness an increase in domestic violence, as well as divorce claims, during the peak of the epidemic.

Our selection on SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

• Listen to Infos coronavirus , our daily column on the Covid-19

• Practical questions:
→ What is the lifespan of the virus?
→ Who are the vulnerable people ?
→ What should you do when you think you are contaminated ?
→ Quarantine, what are we talking about ?
→ What treatments ? The effectiveness of an antimalarial drug in question
→ The advice of a psychiatrist to live well the confinement

Find all our articles, reports, chronicles and programs on the coronavirus by clicking here .

See also our contents on containment .

Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

• Womens rights
• Coronavirus
• Containment
• France
• Australia
• China

On the same subject

Coronavirus-China: containment, source of suffering, disputes and divorces

Coronavirus: containment lowers pollution in Europe and China

Infographics

[INFOGRAPHY] Alarming figures on violence against women