The Shadow Pandemic - intimate terrorism in times of crises

By Kathina Mehring

According to UN Women, 1 out of 3 women worldwide will experience physical or sexual abuse throughout their life, most prevalently committed by an intimate partner. This constitutes a systematic human rights violation, and for decades domestic abuse has been considered a global crisis. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 however, all types of violence against women and girls have drastically intensified, leading to UN Women, among others, deeming it a shadow pandemic within the pandemic. Particularly domestic abuse has been flourishing as residents have been urged to stay home to protect themselves and others, notwithstanding that for some, home is a dangerous place. Correspondingly, this article will discuss how domestic violence was revealed to be a major topic lacking governmental action during the COVID-19 outbreak in multiple Western European countries.

Domestic abuse – more precisely coined intimate terrorism – is a form of abuse of an individual perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner, commonly at a shared place of residence. According to a 1992 paper from Judith Lewis Herman, a renowned trauma expert at Harvard University, domestic abuse is based on coercive methods, like violence or the threat of violence if the victim doesn’t comply with the abuser’s rules. These methods highly resemble those utilized by kidnappers and repressive regimes to control hostages and break the will of prisoners. Domestic abuse not only includes physical violence or violent threats though. Abusers can also gain control over a partner through social isolation and the withholding of basic necessities like food, sleep and shelter. Over time, domestic abuse often causes profound changes in the victims identity, their sense of autonomy and self. This makes it especially hard to leave an abusive relationship: with all outside relationships stripped away, `traumatic bonding´ kicks in, as the victim is increasingly dependent on the perpetrator in leading daily life.

Importantly, not everybody is equally hard hit by domestic abuse - women are disproportionately affected. Those marginalized by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, citizenship status, gender identity or cognitive physical ability, as so often, are also harder hit with 1 in 2 suffering from domestic abuse in the US, compared to `only´ 1 in 3 white women, according to Time Magazine. It is important to note though that domestic abuse also happens to men and equally occurs in queer relationships, as NBC reported in 2020. Especially those in same-sex relationships might additionally suffer from stereotypes insisting that domestic abuse is carried out by men against women, which might stop survivors from reaching out. Domestic abuse has always been a problem in societies worldwide. But as the coronavirus swept through country after country, domestic abuse emerged as another public health crisis, thriving in the conditions created by the pandemic. In a matter of days after announcing lockdowns, European countries were hit with the `shadow pandemic´: in Spain, domestic abuse helplines saw a rise of 18% in calls in the first two weeks of the lockdown, the New York Times reports. The Refuge helpline in the UK even recorded an increase of nearly 150% in daily calls from April 2020 to February 2021 compared to January-March 2020. Unlike western countries, developing countries experienced reverse effects, as calling a hotline was made nearly impossible for those with lower socio-economic backgrounds who have to share a room with their abuser, BBC News reported. Although these numbers are already worrisome as they are, they are most likely only the tip of the iceberg as it is believed that less than 40% of those experiencing domestic abuse actually seek help of any kind, including calling helplines.

The observed rise in statistics corresponds to studies showing that domestic abuse can escalate during and after large-scale crises like the pandemic. The researcher Mohsen Rezaeian writes that “being exposed to natural disasters such as tsunami, hurricane, earthquake, and flood increases the [domestic] violence”. With families spending more time together instead of going to work and school, abuse during lockdowns naturally increased. Economic distress and a lack of social support resulting from layoffs, loss of income and extended domestic stays, additionally fuelled the abuse. Yet, it is important to note that the pandemic does not make an abuser, but rather exacerbates abusive behaviour.

Although governments could have seen this `shadow pandemic´ coming, they largely failed to account for how their new public health measures would increase intimate terrorism. This left states – whose institutions to protect those affected by domestic violence were already underfunded under normal circumstances – struggling to respond to increased demands. As lockdown measures were put in place, the New York Times reported that governments across Europe resorted to renting empty hotel rooms to serve as makeshift shelters. However, the task of writing guidance on how survivors can report abuse while keeping themselves safe was left to national charities, the research report ‘Covid-19: a public health approach to manage domestic violence is needed’ by Chandan et al (2020), published in The Lancet Public Health Journal found. Even though the UN Secretary General António Guterres through a tweet in 2020 urged all governments to put women’s safety first when responding to the pandemic, many governments failed to follow through.

In France, the government ordered police officers, pharmacy and supermarket workers to attend training on how to spot and help victims of domestic abuse during the first wave of COVID-19, Tagesschau reported. Yet, many measures, like their national helpline, turned out to be flawed, as offices were heavily understaffed or workers were transferred to different offices to fight the pandemic. This response is symptomatic of the lacking governmental priority given to measures tackling domestic abuse.

UN Women, however, highlights a notable exception to the poor response by Western European governments: Spain whose Ministry of Equality ensured all along that specialized services for domestic abuse survivors like emergency shelters are deemed essential, open 24 hours a day. The Ministry also launched an information campaign to raise awareness about the services available and published a guide for those suffering abuse during lockdown.

Nonetheless, the picture of government response across Western Europe is bleak, painted by underfunded institutions and an ineffective response. The physical confine- ment brought about by public health measures, combined with the psychological impact of both prolonged abuse and other pandemic-induced trauma has made an already unacceptable situation worse for victims. We can only hope that elected officials and the public at large have become more aware of the global crisis of domestic abuse as the relation between physical insecurity and economic insecurity has suddenly been laid bare by the coronavirus. It is now in the hands of governments worldwide to ensure that the lives of those affected by domestic abuse will not, and never again, be forgotten.♦