Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) No Woman Alone: According to a 2021 report by the European Institute of Gender Equality, cases of domestic violence against women and girls have increased significantly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. With urgent action required to safeguard the rights of women and girls and protect them from domestic violence, what measures should the EU take to ensure the safety of its citizens? by Frane Skaro (DE) and Kirsten Young (DE)
1. Background and relevance After being declared a pandemic in early 2020, COVID-19 has had a significant impact on everyone. Across the EU and the rest of the world, many national governments placed their countries in a state of lockdown with the goal of preventing the spread of the virus. While lockdowns can be a useful tool to contain the virus, they have had some hidden effects. One of their most pressing side effects is the increase in domestic violence cases, particularly between intimate partners. While the data on this topic is still rather scarce, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), some countries are reporting up to a 60% increase in cases of emergency calls placed by women experiencing intimate partner violence. While this is by no means only a European issue, several of the biggest increases in domestic violence cases since the beginning of the pandemic have been reported in the EU in Member States such as Belgium, France, Ireland, and Spain. The measures used to stop the transmission of COVID-19 have however challenged the ability to prevent and respond to gender-based violence26 and domestic violence. Not only is it harder to call for help if the perpetrator is always at home, with more people working from home, but there is also a lack of options for places to go to defuse tensions within the home, and resolve the conflict in a calm and non-violent manner. Many EU Member States have created national action plans to combat this issue, but comprehensive measures are still lacking and the pandemic has shown that there is still a lot to be done in this area, particularly to decrease strain on support providers and networks. The strain here is caused in particular by the increase in cases and the lack of increase in resources.
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Gender-Based violence refers to harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender 39
