Unsafe Homes: Sri Lanka's Covid-19 Response Must Address Violence Towards Women And Children

Pre-COVID-19 data indicates that we are starting from a high baseline of intimate partner violence (IPV) and gender-based violence (GBV) within Sri Lankan households. The challenges of living in restricted space, dealing with financial hardships or other stressors of an uncertain situation increase the risk that some parents and adults will subject children in their households to cruelty or even abuse. We have also come across examples of mothers who are stranded without means to get back to their homes, resulting in their children facing neglect and risks of physical abuse

- Ermiza Tegal and Ananda Galappatti

FACING THE CONSEQUENCES OF ‘LOCKDOWN’

Since March 20, islandwide curfew has been a key strategy to control the transmission of COVID-19. During this period, over 21 million people have been confined to their homes and other places of residence. Whilst the ‘lockdown’ strategy has been vital in holding back the spread of the virus in Sri Lanka and globally, it is now widely acknowledged to have profound social consequences. We have been forced to revisit the assumption implicit in the lockdown strategy that homes are safe spaces. Globally, and in Sri Lanka, it is emerging that violence in households is affecting many women and children, and this needs urgent attention within the broader COVID-19 response from governments and wider stakeholders in society.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN THE HOME