The shadow pandemic
Courts registered a record number of applications to prevent domestic violence during lockdown
MORE applications for protections for domestic violence victims were made at the start of lockdown than at any other point in the past decade. Between April and June 2020, there were 8,844 applications made for a domestic violence remedy order.
The figure includes 7,327 “nonmolestation orders”, which can prohibit particular behaviour or contact by someone who has previously been violent towards the applicant, and 1,517 “occupation orders”, which define who has the right to stay in the home where the parties involved used to live.
The 8,844 applications made in total were an increase of 24% compared to the same quarter in 2019, when there were 7,113 submitted.
It is also the highest number seen for any quarter since records began at the start of 2009.
The figures come as no surprise - experts have been warning about an expected increase in domestic violence since the beginning of the first lockdown.
In April, the World Health
Organisation reported a 60% increase in emergency calls about domestic abuse across Europe.
At the same time, the United Nations has described the worldwide increase in domestic abuse against women and girls as a "shadow pandemic".
A survey by Women's Aid - a national domestic abuse charity - found that over 60% of survivors living with their abuser reported that the abuse they experienced got worse during the pandemic.
Lucy Hadley, head of policy and campaigns at Women's Aid, said: “Survivors have told us that abusers have used the pandemic as a tool for abuse to increase fear and anxiety and 67% of women who were currently experiencing abuse said that Covid-19 had been used as part of the abuse.”
The charity also emphasised that these statistics only reflect the number of victims who are applying for protection orders in Family Courts - they warn the true scale of domestic abuse is really far greater than what these figures show.
In the year ending in March 2020, the police recorded 756,968 domestic abuse-related crimes - showing that just a fraction of survivors are accessing protection orders.
The charity explains that women experiencing domestic abuse face a significant range of barriers to telling anyone about it, let alone reporting to the police or other agencies.
Furthermore, leaving an abuser is statistically a highly dangerous time for a woman experiencing domestic abuse - and the fear of being harmed or even killed is a fundamental barrier to escaping.
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