Domestic abuse charities in Europe are looking into innovative ways to protect women during the coronavirus lockdowns that they warn are leading to increasing cases of abuse.
“It’s a perfect storm,” explains Suzanne Jacob, chief executive of British charity SafeLives, to the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Lockdowns will lead to a surge in domestic abuse, but also severely limit the ability of services to help.”
As a result, charities are calling for hotels and holiday rentals to turn their spaces to refuges to protect women fleeing domestic violence. Other creative measures are also being adopted, such as in Spain’s Canary Islands, where an initiative allows victims to go to their nearest pharmacy and request a ‘Mask 19’ – a code word prompting pharmacists to contact the authorities.
