Violence in the home before, during and after COVID-19

Download the Summary Report from our first Leading Minds Online event.

Reports of a “perfect storm” are brewing for millions of children and women around the world, staying indoors. COVID-19 has unleashed a wave of international concern for increasing violence inside the home. Across the globe countries are expanding helplines and online support platforms as media reporting on family violence worldwide rises. The UN secretary general has called for an urgent domestic violence “ceasefire” and  146 (updated) governments have signed a pledge re-affirming their support to survivors within the COVID-19 response. This is not new but the pandemic has unveiled what has been hidden in plain sight – the high levels of violence that children and women experience in the very place of refuge from this Coronavirus – the home.

On Thursday 21 May at 15:00 CET | 09:00 EST UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti launched the second installment of the Leading Minds Online webinar series of "What the Experts Say - Coronavirus and Children: Violence in the Home.” The webinar looks at why some of the measures taken to contain the Coronavirus could be magnifying the risk factors for violence against children and women - What can be done to prevent violence against children and women and support survivors now and post-COVID 19?

Panelists:

1. Alessandra Guedes, Manager, Gender and Development Research, Office of Research-Innocenti, Italy
2. Shanaaz Mathews, Director, Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa
3. Dipak Naker, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Raising Voices, Uganda
4. Cornelius Williams, UNICEF Associate Director & Global Chief of Child Protection, Programme Division, U.S.A.
5. Najat Maalla M’jid, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, Morocco
6. Emily Esplen, Adviser at DFID on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, United Kingdom

WATCH the recorded livestream of the webinar here