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UN / COVID-19 GENDER BASED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
TRT: 01:28
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 06 APRIL 2020, NEW YORK CITY
FILE
1. Tilt up, exterior UN Headquarters
06 APRIL 2020, NEW YORK CITY
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General:
“The Secretary-General released a statement on gender-based violence and COVID-19. He made an appeal for peace at home and in homes around the world, stating that for many women and girls, the threat looms largest where they should be the safest, in their own homes. He said that over the past weeks, as economic and social pressures and fears have grown, we have seen a horrifying global surge in domestic violence. In some countries, the number of women calling support services has doubled, some domestic violence shelters are closed, and others are full. Mr. Guterres urged all governments to make the provisions and redress of violence against women a key part of their national response plan for COVID-19. Together we can and must prevent violence everywhere, from warzones to peoples’ homes as we work to beat the virus, he added. Our colleagues at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, ESCWA, based in Beirut, today also cautioned that the pandemic has worsened domestic violence and social challenges faced by women and girls in the Arab region. The Commission’s Executive Secretary Rola Dashti warned that increased food insecurity will not only place women and girls at high risk of domestic violence with rising household tensions but will also reduce their immunity to the virus.”
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday (5 Apr) issued a statement on gender-based violence and COVID-19, making an appeal “for peace at home and in homes around the world,” and stating that “as economic and social pressures and fears have grown, we have seen a horrifying global surge in domestic violence.”
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, briefing journalists today (6 Apr) over videoconference, quoted Guterres, saying that “for many women and girls, the threat looms largest where they should be the safest, in their own homes.”
Dujarric said, in some countries, “the number of women calling support services has doubled, some domestic violence shelters are closed, and others are full.”
Guterres, Dujarric said, “urged all governments to make the provisions and redress of violence against women a key part of their national response plan for COVID-19.”
Dujarric also noted that the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA,) Executive Secretary Rola Dashti “warned that increased food insecurity will not only place women and girls at high risk of domestic violence with rising household tensions but will also reduce their immunity to the virus.”
