Skip to footer

Why domestic abuse is now an international cause

A spike in domestic violence during the coronavirus lockdown has resulted in a vigorous response to provide shelter and protection beyond one’s home.

|
AP
German Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Franziska Giffey attaches a sticker at the register of cashier Kerstin Strasen in a supermarket in Berlin, April 29. Minister Giffey started a nationwide campaign for supermarkets to act as place for people to report domestic violence.
  • By the Monitor's Editorial Board

Governments around the world are starting to realize that an order for individuals to “shelter in place” may require shelter other than one’s house. In many countries, domestic abuse has spiked under the stress of COVID-19 lockdowns and rising layoffs. The United Nations calls it a “shadow pandemic,” estimating that every three months of lockdown will add 15 million extra cases of gender-based violence worldwide.

Yet even as the U.N. and others raise an alarm over people trapped at home with abusive partners, they are rushing to provide support for abuse hotlines and temporary shelters. Instead of a call to “stay home, stay safe,” they are pushing an alternative to stay safe by defining home itself.

In France, Spain, Germany, and Colombia, campaigns have started to train managers of supermarkets and pharmacies to respond to women seeking help because of domestic abuse but who are afraid to do so at home during forced isolation.

The U.N. is funding new domestic-abuse shelters in countries seeing a surge in abuse, such as Tunisia, where cases have risen fivefold in recent weeks.

In some wealthier countries, legislation for dealing with the economic fallout from the coronavirus includes money to stem a rise in domestic violence. In the United States, the CARES Act passed by Congress provides close to $100 million in additional money for programs aimed at protecting women and children. Some lawmakers are now seeking additional funds.

Private groups and individuals are also stepping up. The Mary Kay Foundation and the De Beers Group are donating money for shelters as are music icon Rihanna and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.

In early April, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned of a “horrifying global surge in domestic violence.” Since then the U.N. reports a “very positive response” from a number of countries that have flagged the issue. Putting a spotlight on this shadow pandemic has brought hope for many now in abusive situations, offering them a new meaning of home and safety.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Why domestic abuse is now an international cause
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2020/0430/Why-domestic-abuse-is-now-an-international-cause
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe