One of the negative repercussions of this era of isolation has been the “terrible outbreak of domestic violence,” as UN Secretary-General Guterres said in early 2020.
This phenomenon was greatly accentuated in regions where domestic violence rates were already high, such as Latin America, which unfortunately houses 14 of the 25 countries with the highest rates of femicide in the world, i.e. the murder of women.
This is a critical scenario that requires pressing attention, but has been relegated to the background as countries focus on economic pressures created through COVID-19.
Living with violence
Domestic violence occurs at home and could possibly come with sexual, physical and mental abuse.
Even before the COVID crisis, domestic violence and opposing violence were known as a public fitness crisis in Mexico.
Every day, 10 lose their lives in Mexico because of their gender.
Space is the place where women are most abused, statistics mean that 47% of Mexican women revel in some form of domestic violence and are the victims in 96% of all domestic violence cases.
It is estimated that two-thirds of Mexicans over the age of 15 and over have experienced some form of violence in their lifetime, with 43.9 consistent with the percent of Mexicans who have experienced violence on the part of their partners.
Although domestic violence is a painsy crime, there are very few mechanisms to stumble upon it and there are fewer tactics to take concrete action.
This scenario is alarming at a time when millions of Mexican women are forced to stay at home with perpetrators of domestic violence due to pandemic closures.
The scale of the problem
The main signs of domestic violence in the country are the number of complaints filed in women’s justice centres (CJMs) and through calls to specialized emergency numbers.But of the 32 states that make up the Mexican Republic; five states, covering 19% of the total population, even have an MJC.
Meanwhile, in March and April 2020, in Mexico City, the women’s hotline earned more than 300% more calls than in March and April of the year.
It should be noted that judicial cases in the CJM and hotlines do not constitute the actual number of cases.
Many instances go unquestioned because women choose not to report for fear of reprisals and because many municipalities do not have a compromised channel to report domestic violence.
In fact, it is estimated that only one in five cases is reported to the authorities.To make matters worse, since the home care order came into effect, the CJM has reduced its time due to a temporary suspension of work.
But while the numbers in Mexico are worrying, this is a global problem.
Delegiting the victims
Data from a survey of 15,000 Australian women through the Australian Institute of Criminology show that domestic violence here has increased dramatically since the beginning of the pandemic, with one in 10 Australian women in a relationship experiencing some form of COVID-19 physical or emotional abuse.
In the United States, of the 22 law enforcement agencies across the country, 18 have reported an increase in domestic violence appeals since the start of the lockout period.calls to Phoenix for a 55% increase in Tennessee.
However, in both countries, the increase in the number of workers was less dramatic than in Mexico and also came here from a much lower reference level.
Despite efforts by civil society organizations to highlight the problem, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in May that 90% of calls to hotlines in the event of domestic violence over the pandemic were false.
In addition to this crusade to delegitimate victims, the federal government announced in April that it would reduce the budget of the National Shelter Network, a service used primarily through women victims of domestic violence.
Today, these shelters have a constant capacity.
Mexico is now inflamed by two serious diseases, COVID-19 and gender-based violence, and both will have to be controlled and treated.