Daily Times

In Pakistan, on average, every one in four women experiences emotional, physical or sexual violence. This accounts for approximately eight million women grappling with various forms of violence every year. The risk of violence has likely further increased as economic and social pressures mount amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 crisis affects men and women in different ways, experience shows that domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence increases during crises and disasters. Generally speaking gender-based violence takes place everywhere but evidence shows women and girls in crises are especially vulnerable.

Some major issues that women are likely to face during this pandemic and the government should respond to – include violence, mobility, reproductive health, economic independence and girls’ education. Globally, the rise in domestic violence during mandatory lockdown measures has led WHO to acknowledge it. The UN Secretary-General also urged “governments to put women’s safety first” during this pandemic and I totally agree with the words of Antonio Guterres that Gender equality and women’s rights are essential for getting through this pandemic together, to recovering faster, and to building a better future for everyone.

Just to brief my readers that Pakistan ranks as the sixth most risky country in the world for women, with rampant cases of sexual and domestic violence. The situation calls for a gender-responsive emergency measures to mitigate the harmful impacts of COVID-19 on protection of women. Moreover, Pakistan currently ranks at 151 out of 153 countries on the gender inequality index of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gap Report of 2020. The current system is one of dichotomous social values, where one gender has rights over the other but not vice versa and existing structural barriers and gender inequalities are maintained by a host of interlocking and reciprocally reinforcing factors. This is the primary reason for the prevailing inequitable patterns of social, economic and political disadvantage of women in the country. In emergency situations this state of affairs is further compounded as WHO reports levels of sexual or Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) faced by women and other forms of Gender Based Violence (GBV) tend to grow more acute due to factors such as broken social and protective networks and lack of essential services.

During the pandemic anti-violence centers were locked down and vulnerable women in Italy, as in Pakistan, had to stay isolated at home, silent along with a violent and aggressive partner

If we talk about specifically Sindh province, then despite several women-friendly laws and policies, challenges in implementation continue to mar the prospects for women and children. Majority of vulnerable women continue to lack access to free or affordable essential services in health, police, education, justice and social support.

Essential services for survivors and victims of GBV remain ad-hoc and scanty in the province of Sindh. However, the crisis centres and complaint cells of the WDD have been rendered non-functional at a time when women need these social and protection networks the most. The shelter homes have not been provided with any safety equipment or protective gear though they have suspended visitation rights for all residents as precautionary measures. The three state-run shelter homes for women in Larkana, Hyderabad and Sukkur are accepting new admissions, though only through the direct orders of courts and after medical screening is conducted in coordination with the district health departments. In both cases, lots of time is being taken which makes the women more vulnerable. I think the essential services e.g. local helplines, shelter homes, medical facilities and police – must be remain functional, work in a coordinated manner by identifying existing services and adjusting SOPs to cater to women survivors. This could help the women who are in dire need.

Though, nothing has been officially recorded, incidents of domestic violence are rising due to growing economic pressure and close proximity to an already abusive partner. Official records, pre-coronavirus, according to the PDHS show that 28% of women/girls aged 15-49 have experienced physical violence; 3% admitted to having had an abortion, miscarriage or other health problems because of the violence. The most common types of injuries reported by women experiencing violence are cuts, bruises or aches (22%) and eye injuries, sprains, dislocations, or burns (12%). Serious injuries were reported by 6% to include deep wounds, broken bones, and broken teeth among others.

While talking with Saira Ahmed a social activist based in Sindh said, “during this pandemic, the government should step forward and deliver a clear and targeted public communication and awareness campaign on why forms of SGBV are considered as crimes and why is there an immediate need to protect women and girls with no excuse for perpetrators who commit such abuse. The police should be tasked with ensuring swift action in cases of such reporting. Moreover, an information campaign to aggressively promote available protection measures and how to access them, particularly help lines must be launched on immediate basis through mainstream and social media & mobilize civil society platforms for sensitization of communities in rural and peri-urban areas, particularly men and influential leaders to protect rights of women during the pandemic to safeguard respect, honour and dignity of women and girls”.

On other side if we talk about Italy, the country that has been dramatically hit by Covid-19, domestic and gender-based violence is still today an entrenched problem. According to the Health Ministry 31.5% of women have experienced a physical or sexual violence in their life. The most part of abuses are committed by partners and men inside the familiar context. Almost 50% of familicides are committed by partners.

In the last years gender-based violence has been taken as a very serious national problem by the institutions. Many associations are committed in promoting women’s rights. Among them, Telefono Rosa (Pink Phone), that manages “1522”, the public phone line against violence promoted by the Department of Equal opportunities of the Government. In 2019 the Parliament approved a law about “protection of victims of domestic and gender violence” that introduced changes to the Penal code.

However, during the pandemic anti-violence centers were locked down and vulnerable women in Italy, as in Pakistan, had to stay isolated at home, silent and harmless along with a violent and aggressive partner. At the beginning of the quarantine – Telefono Rosa reported – calls to “1522” registered a decrease. But this is not good news: it doesn’t mean that women felt safer. It just means that in the first weeks they were not able to call, to ask for help, being entrapped and feeling discouraged, with no freedom to talk, to express their needs.

In March, during lockdown, 11 women were killed in their houses. A huge number. I believe that protection from a pandemic shouldn’t sacrifice other urgent needs: one thing shouldn’t exclude the other one. I wouldn’t say that vulnerable women were abandoned or neglected. The fact is that they didn’t receive the proper protection they needed. The aid phone line remained active, there were also information campaigns in many places like pharmacies and supermarkets. But I think they were to some extent stopgap measures in that situation. Sometimes a call could be even a greater danger for the woman in distress, in the event that the partner caught her asking for help.

In Italy we have the means and the expertise to face the problem of violence and I can say that citizens are more aware of it nowadays. Many steps forward have been made so far. Nevertheless, as lockdown showed, our way ahead is still long.

Salman Ali is a social and political activist. He has done his Maters and MPhil in Communication Studies. He can be reached at salmanali088@gmail.com, tweets at Salmani_salu Giulia Cerqueti, Italian journalist, focused on international news, human rights and social issues