Violence-Covid19 - 2867 women have turned to anti-violence centers D.i.Re during lockdown
A significant increase in requests for support from women who were already being followed by the anti-violence centers of the network D.i.Re, forced to spend the period of quarantine for the coronavirus emergency at home with the perpetrator.
A decline in the first requests for help from "new" women, who had never before turned to a refuge.
From 2 March to 5 April 2020 the anti-violence centers D.i.Re a total of 2.867 women were contacted, of which 806 (28%) had never referred to anti-violence centers before D.i.Re.
The increase in requests for support, compared to the monthly average recorded with the last statistical survey (2018), equal to 1.643, was 74,5 percent.
In summary, this is the photograph that emerges from the statistical survey conducted by D.i.Re among the 80 organizations that join the network.
“Well over 1200 more women have turned to anti-violence centers D.i.Re in just over a month, compared to the annual average of contacts recorded in the last survey ", he notes Paula Sdao, who with Sigrid Pisanu takes care of the annual statistical survey of the network D.i.Re, “A fact that confirms how forced cohabitation has further exacerbated situations of violence that women were experiencing”.
“A fact that worries us are new requests for help, which represent only 28% of the total, while in 2018 they represented 78% of the total number of women accepted”, Reports Sdao again. "And of these, only 3,5 percent passed through the anti-violence public number 1522".
“Our data confirms that the anti-violence centers are a reference point for women apart from 1522, essential services never mentioned in the various DPCMs that followed one another and that continued their business despite the difficulties ", comments Antonella Veltri, President of D.i.Re.
“Today, still in full emergency, we are in the same situation as 53 days ago, when the first death from Covid was recorded. Although we had asked for extraordinary resources and the necessary protections to manage the reception, the anti-violence centers and the shelters have in most cases had to autonomously arrange for safety and emergency accommodation”, Points out the President of D.i.Re.
"The 2019 funds released by the Equal Opportunities Department on April 2 must now pass through the Regions: furthermore, no Region appears to have been activated", reports Veltri. “Furthermore, these are not additional resources, but resources destined for fundamental additional activities, such as training and employment for women, which will now disappear”.
"It the 3 million announced with Cura Italia are negligible, compared to the needs of the centers. We are not yet out of the emergency ", concludes Veltri," and now that the time for the reopening of the country is approaching no action has been planned to address the situation while requests for support could increase further, as has already happened in China. The government must absolutely change strategy ”.
Monitoring of anti-violence centers D.i.Re - Covid19 emergency: download the sheet with the tables