UN chief says horrifying surge in domestic violence amid coronavirus lockdown

With the world fighting the novel coronavirus, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on April 6 urged governments to ensure that protection of women is on their agenda too. Guterres issued a statement after noticing a ‘horrifying’ global surge in cases of domestic violence during the lockdown. 

“Peace is not just the absence of war. Many women under lockdown for #COVID19 (sic) face violence where they should be safest: in their own homes,” Guterres said in a message posted on his official Twitter account.

The UN chief said that as economic and social pressures and fear have grown over the past weeks, there has been a surge in domestic violence. Most of the countries grappling with the COVID-19 virus had imposed some form of lockdown. Guterres made an appeal to the government to make the prevention and redress of violence against women a key part of their national response plans for coronavirus. 

As measures to prioritise women’s safety, Guterres suggest emergency warning systems in groceries and pharmacies. He also called for safe ways for the affected women to seek support, without alerting their abusers.

He also urged everyone to come together in the fight against coronavirus. “Together, we can and must prevent violence everywhere, from war zones to people’s homes, as we work to beat COVID-19.” 

The pandemic has been spreading at an alarming rate and has already claimed over 4 lakh lives around the globe. On June 26, over 9,296,202 million people have been affected by the dreaded infection.