Domestic abuse arrests surge to 4,093 in London

London, April 27

An influential parliamentary committee of British lawmakers on Monday called for urgent action from the government over a surge in domestic abuse cases amid the coronavirus lockdown, with London alone registering 4,093 arrests in the six weeks up to April 19.

The House of Commons' Home Affairs Committee found that calls and contacts to the UK-wide domestic abuse helpline run by the charity Refuge were 49 per cent higher in the week prior to April 15, than the average prior to the pandemic.

“Staying at home is an important part of the strategy to prevent coronavirus from spreading and save lives, but for some people home isn't safe. Urgent action is needed to protect victims and prevent perpetrators from exploiting the lockdown to increase abuse,” said Committee Chair Yvette Cooper.

“There are already alarming signs of the rise in domestic abuse. Our cross-party Committee is calling for an urgent action plan from government setting out practical measures to tackle domestic abuse as an integrated part of the fight against Covid-19,” said the Labour Party MP.

The Committee calls for a comprehensive cross-governmental Covid-19 strategy on domestic abuse, both for lockdown and the period afterwards when needs may be high. The strategy should combine awareness, prevention, victim support, housing and a criminal justice response, backed by dedicated funding and ministerial leadership.

The Committee also calls for new schemes to ensure that victims can access urgent help during lockdown when they may be unable to use the phone at home or talk to friends, including by expanding the "Safe Spaces" model piloted in pharmacies to include supermarkets and other retailers.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel had recently launched a public campaign with a symbol of a heart in the hand, spread through the hashtag #YouAreNotAlone, as she urged the public to speak out against domestic violence.

The Commons Committee welcomed the move but stressed that the government needs to go further. Research by domestic abuse monitoring group Counting Dead Women calculated that at least 16 domestic abuse killings of women and children had taken place between the lockdown period of March 23 and April 12, double that of an average 21-day period in the last decade.

Earlier, the Metropolitan Police had also launched an appeal asking victims to feel confident about speaking out as it noted there were 17,275 incidents recorded between March 9 and April 19 – a 9 per cent increase on the same period in 2019.

In locked-down Iraq, domestic abuse cases explode

Baghdad: The nationwide lockdown since mid-March has led to a spike in domestic violence cases in Iraq. The head of Iraq's community police, Brigadier General Ghalib Atiyah, said that its log of domestic violence cases has increased by an average of 30 per cent since the curfew came into force — with some areas seeing as high as a 50-per cent spike.

In a single week, the United Nations in Iraq (UNAMI) reported: "The rape of a woman with special needs, spousal abuse, immolation and self-immolation as well as self-inflicted injuries due to spousal abuse, sexual harassment of minors, and suicide due to domestic abuse among other crimes." — Agencies

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