Bel Trew: A wave of domestic violence is breaking across the locked-down Middle East

By Dilip -
Governments and human rights groups across the world have registered an incredibly worrying surge in domestic violence, as people have been forced to lock themselves up at home with whomever is in their household. The Middle East is no exception. But here, many rights groups say abuse can be compounded by the financial and political crises that were already ravaging the region before the virus arrived, piling additional pressure on people.


Many of the coronavirus lockdowns are even more severe than in the UK, not even permitting exercise outside and so any respite at all. In Tunisia – where the government has intermittently banned people from even going to supermarkets – authorities say cases of domestic violence have increased fivefold. In Jordan, which has rolled out similarly strict regulations, a video of a distraught woman describing her abuse under quarantine has been shared widely online. In Lebanon, where again exercise outside is forbidden and there are nightly and weekend curfews, calls to a government domestic violence hotline have doubled....
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/middle-east-domestic-violence-coronavirus-lockdown-lebanon-refugee-camps-a9472896.html

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