Lockdown and domestic violence

Since the beginning of the lockdown due to the Covid-19 virus, the number of domestic violence has increased. It rose by more than 30 percent in France in one week, according to Marlène Schiappa, the state secretary of gender equality in France.

The official phone number for violence at home is 39-19. And it has been noticed that calls have been reduced since the beginning of the lockdown. In fact, it's more difficult to call when the agressor is at home constently.

For the victims of this kind of violence stay at home permanently can be quickly really hard to manage and can let psychological consequences besides the violence itself. It creates permanent anxiety and higher the stress. The situation can also be complicated for the ones with childrens. Childrens are also victims of the situation, first by being present and seeing and hearing and second by being exposed to this violence. This will let consequences to the short, mid and long term.

Violences at home are even more problematic when it appears during the first years of the children. It can let deep consequences because a baby cannot speak and express himself. We are not born with the ability to express ourselves with the language. Its' something that we learn later. To acquire the language and develop itself, a child needs a healthy and positive environment.

But when there is violence at home and the baby cannot talk and express what it feels, these acts of violence would stay in the traumatic memory.This traumatic impact is serious and has repercussions for its future adult life. We can see a post-traumatic stress disorder in most of the cases through nightmares or hypervigilence.

Other consequences can be school phobia, isolation, impaired concentration, addiction, aggressivity with itself or with the future spouse...

So it's important to stay careful with this topic.

Because in Paris these acts of violence increased of 36% in one week, Christophe Castaner, the interior minister, announced the 26 March the set up of a new warning system.

The victim of domestic violence can go to the pharmacy to inform someone and to have some help.

This kind of system is already set up in other countries like Spain for exemple. But how efficient is this at the end? It can be usefull to think about other solutions to this growing problem. 

Sources

https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2020/03/31/les-femmes-en-premiere-ligne-face-au-coronavirus-les-violences-conjugales-en-hausse-l-ivg-attaquee-m_1783655

https://www.france24.com/fr/20200406-coronavirus-l-onu-appelle-les-%C3%A9tats-%C3%A0-prot%C3%A9ger-les-femmes-des-violences-domestiques

https://www.bfmtv.com/international/coronavirus-l-onu-alerte-sur-les-violences-faites-aux-femmes-en-periode-de-confinement-1889584.html