EU rights and equality agency heads: Let’s step up our efforts to end domestic violence

Since the beginning of Coronavirus lockdowns, police, women shelters and NGOs have reported a surge in domestic violence, especially violence targeting women. The pandemic has exposed how common this serious human rights abuse is and how insufficient the measures to fight it still are. The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) call on the EU and its Member States to use the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to step up their efforts to effectively protect women's rights.“No country in Europe has achieved gender equality — the prevalence of domestic violence is a sad reminder of that,” says EIGE Director Carlien Scheele. “Yet chronic underreporting of violence at the hands of a partner means we only know a partial truth. Governments need to make clear that violence is not a private matter and ensure the police, justice and health sectors are able to work together to help victims.”  “Even without the coronavirus pandemic, one in five women in the EU have been a victim of domestic violence. Moreover, women in households that struggle to make ends meet are even at a higher risk,” says FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty pointing to an earlier FRA survey. “The current spike in domestic abuses underlines that the EU and its Member States need to act to protect women during this crisis, and bolster their measures in the future to end violence against women once and for all.”As lockdowns and quarantines continue in most of...