With numerous countries implementing shelter-at-home policies and billions of people sheltering at home from the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic violence has become an epidemic within an epidemic. In response, UN Secretary General Guterres called for a global “ceasefire” on domestic violence, lending high-level support to this longstanding demand. To have meaning, the Secretary General’s call must be coupled with action at the local level—where domestic violence actually occurs. This is where local women’s organizations play a crucial role. The international interventions that follow should look to women’s groups working on the frontlines of the crisis to lead.
Before COVID-19, domestic violence was already a global emergency. One out of every three women in the world will experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most at the hands of intimate partners. Nearly half of all women in the world have experienced psychological violence. Those who face gender-based violence as well as discrimination and persecution on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, age, caste, or class, are at further risk and often have access to far fewer resources. The pandemic has exacerbated conditions that too often lead to violence. Stress and anxiety brought on by the outbreak can leave abusers feeling out of control, triggering violence that is rooted in a sense of entitlement and power. Measures to control the spread of COVID-19, while important for public health, can create more danger. Social distancing reinforces the isolation that abusers impose. Sheltering at home cuts off avenues of support and escape.