Response to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Against Women During COVID-19

Sir,

COVID-19 is a global public health crisis. It has affected the lives of women and men differently. A recent report by United Nations Women ¹ revealed that the COVID-19 crisis has intensified gender inequality and gender discrimination worldwide. It has disproportionately impacted women and girls. Pre-existing inequalities and the presence of more vulnerability factors, in turn, worsened the risk for abuse and neglect and reduced the options for care and support. ¹ Across the countries, during the lockdown, there has been a steep increase in the calls to helplines and police stations. In India, a rise of more than two times was recorded in sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) during the national lockdown. The total complaints received from women by the National Commission for Women (NCW) rose from 116 in the first week of March to 257 in the final week of March 2020. ² In some parts of India, there have been a few incidences of rape and sexual assault against women in quarantine centers.^{3, 4, 5} According to WHO, the risk of domestic violence is likely to increase as social distancing measures are put in place and people are encouraged to stay home. ⁶

Even though the lockdown lifted, women and men continue to work from home due to social distancing measures. Due to work from home situations, many women have to spend all the time with abusive partners in a confined environment. Accessing help from formal or informal networks became more difficult, and home can no longer be considered a safer place for all women. Role expectations from the abusive partner, loss of a job, insufficient family income, financial dependency due to temporary or permanent job loss, overcrowded family environment, imbalance in work and family lives, and difficulty adapting to current new situations could contribute to an environment that triggers violence on women.

Innovative Strategies Adapted to Handle SGBV

To tackle SGBV, China launched a social media campaign as a part of the advocacy to break the silence against violence during the lockdown. In France and Spain, the women survivors of violence have relied on code words to seek help from pharmacies to report the situation of violence. ⁷ The United States launched Digital Services Toolkit to provide information to survivors of violence. ⁸ In India, NCW launched a separate WhatsApp number to provide help for the victims of domestic violence. ⁹

How to Respond to the SGBV

Health Care Professionals and Other Stakeholders

The telehealth services have gained importance during the COVID-19 pandemic to connect to the people to provide needed help and support. The health care professionals (HCPs) play a pivotal role in screening and offering the needed support to the victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). The HCPs should have adequate skills to screen for IPV, provide the first line of support, and refer to needed help, depending upon the need of the survivors. One of the prerequisites for screening using technology is to ensure that the conversation occurs in a private environment. Before asking questions, check if the perpetrator is nearby and ask the victim to respond only in YES or NO or use code words to communicate danger. Asking simple questions such as “Is everything all right?” “Is it safe to speak to you?” and “What activities you have been doing to cope with COVID-19?” can ensure the safety of the survivor while discussing IPV-related issues in indirect ways. HCPs should also have adequate information about locally available support services for the survivors.

There are some limitations in providing online consultation in the context of IPV. The survivors may find it difficult to disclose the violence due to the risk of the abuser overhearing them or using technological means for monitoring, such as recording the calls or checking a caller list. The availability of a communication device is also an issue. The digital gender divide and lack of digital literacy are some shortcomings in availing services that use digital modalities. ¹⁰

A proper gender-specific treatment protocol is needed to protect the women during the pandemic. Priority must be given to implementing the Protection of Women for Domestic Violence Act, 2005, to safeguard women against SGBV. Strengthening existing helpline services and one-stop centers, continuous dissemination of information about these services through routine news, and advocacy efforts using various stakeholders such as ASHA and Anganwadi workers, police, local governance, media, and mental health professionals should be done. The ASHA and Anganwadi workers can provide information regarding IPV and the existing helpline numbers in the households of areas they cater to and identify households with a potential for SGBV as they will be familiar with the locality and the people. Police can put forward initiatives to identify the potential households through Students Police Cadets (SPC) and deliver services. Thus, young children can be a part of preventing violence. Projects like “Our Responsibility to Children” can contribute to preventive and protective measures to help young girls from violence. The existing women police cells should have mechanisms to connect to the victims of violence immediately with appropriate resources. The local self-governance system can involve, to some extent, to rescue the survivor. Media can sensitize the public through educational messages about understanding and identifying violence and scroll information about helpline numbers during prime time programs. Mobile companies can provide information about helplines and rescue measures as text messages/push notifications to the users, especially to those numbers registered in the ID of women, and also have awareness messages as caller tunes.

Mental health professionals should routinely screen for IPV and offer trauma care to alleviate the psychological distress associated with IPV. Effective safety planning should also be a part of the intervention.

Government and Policy Makers

There is a need to develop proper guidelines, safety protocols, and standard operating procedures to respond to SGBV to protect the women in quarantine and isolation centers. Training of camp managers and other healthcare workers to respond to and promptly report SGBV is essential. It is essential to have guidelines even about the transportation of women to treatment centers.

The government should establish temporary makeshift shelter care facilities for women exited from a violent situation during emergency. Informal social networks and virtual platforms, including text-based ones (e.g., WhatsApp networks), should be strengthened for providing psychosocial care and support.

The government should have gender budgeting for risk reduction in disaster management. Women’s involvement and decision-making in the process is a must for planning and implementation of gender-inclusive policy in mitigation and prevention of SGBV in an emergency. WHO, ³ in “Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Framework,” mentioned the need for providing SGBV and sexual reproductive health services as a part of the package for essential services during any emergency. It is important to take advantage of existing experiences and reinforce what has already been done by government and nongovernmental organizations and adopt these initiatives to the specific situation we are experiencing with COVID-19. ¹¹