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Student Blog – Silenced by the Lockdown: A Critique of the British Government’s Approach to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The following post is part of the Mason Institute student blog series which publishes the excellent work undertaken by Edinburgh postgraduate students on the Contemporary Issues in Medical Jurisprudence course, which forms part of our Masters in Medical Law and Ethics degree programme.

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Introduction

The dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic brought about calls from governments for all non-essential workers to ‘stay at home’ to aid social distancing measures. Within the first week of the ‘lockdown’, visits to domestic abuse (DA) support websites soared by 150%. This corroborated expert’s predictions that Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) would intensify during lockdowns as not everyone feels safe at home.

In this blog, I critique the English government’s response to attenuating the rise in IPV and argue that it failed to recognise the unequal impact of pandemic restrictions on women. I consider the lack of comprehensive measures aimed at mitigating issues with accessing support and the failure to address the root-cause of heightened IPV. Finally, I explore precautionary measures to limit IPV surges in future crises. Though IPV can manifest irrespective of gender, here I will focus on women as they are consistently asymmetrically represented in reported IPV cases.

Disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women dealing with IPV

The lockdown period had distressing effects on people’s mental health due to the restrictions on movement. Women dealing with IPV however, were disproportionately impacted as lockdowns meant they were confined to their homes, typically with their abusive partners. IPV during the pandemic manifested not solely as physical abuse but also inescapable financial, emotional and psychological exploitation. Increase in child caring responsibilities, that usually fall on the mother, along with the adoption of work-from-home measures, exacerbated pressures and restrictions on IPV victims.

Additionally, the closure or inaccessibility of support institutions, especially emergency refuge services that could not accommodate new people, and the inability to meet and talk freely with domestic abuse counsellors, compounded the effects of IPV on women and increased feelings of loss of control, fear and isolation.

The existence of such barriers exhibit the disproportionate and devastating effects of pandemic restrictions on women dealing with IPV and necessitate specific action.[1]

Government response: increased funding and the Domestic Abuse Act 2021

In response to concerns regarding a DA epidemic within the pandemic, the government announced £2 million in funds for local government and third-sector service providers. Though necessary, these emergency funds could not help reinvigorate chronically underfunded organisations that are dealing with impacts of austerity. Social workers that are trained in managing IPV situations, even with additional funding do not have access to victims during the pandemic due to restrictions and would not be able to exercise their skills. Similar problems arise with online abuse risk assessments that can be complex to conduct where the abuser is around, leaving social workers dispirited.[2] Overall, it appears that the monetary supplementation failed to meet the goal of assisting women dealing with IPV during the pandemic.[3]

Second, the government championed the introduction of criminal justice measures via the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (DAA) as the panacea to IPV and DA. However, it is important to acknowledge that the success of this legislation is contingent upon its effective implementation. Prior experience indicates that simply enacting legal reforms may not suffice to improve the situation for victims. Additionally, while criminal justice measures can be helpful in cases where incidents of IPV escalate to the judicial level, they may not be effective in addressing the issue in most circumstances.

Women may not want or be able to bring criminal charges against their partners, and moreover, during the pandemic such criminal prosecution would be delayed – making the already unsafe home even more perilous as the complainant would have to co-habit with the abusive accused.

Criminal justice measures are significant, and the DAA is the culmination of years of work and campaigning, but it does not aim at eradicating the root-cause of IPV. To achieve sustainable and meaningful changes, fostering gradual social transformation through edification is necessary, coupled with strong deterrent laws as outlined by the DAA.

I suggest that excessive heralding of the DAA as a means to bring about change in the predicament of women facing IPV during lockdowns is disproportionate to its actual impacts.

Pandemic preparedness: limiting IPV the next time

Predictions suggest that another pandemic is, unfortunately, inevitable; thus being prepared for further lockdown situations is vital. Though tackling IPV irrespective of a pandemic is crucial, it is essential to implement changes to ensure protection and support to victims.

Foremost, measures to adequately fund relief organisations such as refuges and DV/IPV services are imperative. The chronically underfunded nature of these organisations lead to their inability to act in situations of crisis, as demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]

Second, frontline workers who have more direct face-to-face access to people living in lockdowns must be trained to recognise instances of IPV and report them to authorities; this will reduce the likelihood of women being silent sufferers.[5]

Similarly, access to social workers is inhibited by the presence of the abuser, even during video calls that were adopted by many organisations to assess risk.

Investment into the creation of online chat-based services could be beneficial in this regard. The use of social media content could also create support groups and crucially advertise the availability of help. The government’s #YouAreNotAlone campaign and Ask for ANI scheme are strides in that direction.

Conclusion

This blog discussed the disproportionate impact of pandemic mitigation efforts on women facing IPV and analysed the UK government’s responses. I conclude that though sincere, the government’s funding allocations to DV support organisations were too tardy as these establishments are systematically under-financed and require restoration. Additionally, the constructive outcomes of the DAA are vital but not a panacea to improve outcomes for IPV victims. I have suggested innovative techniques to avert another crisis for women dealing with IPV in case of another pandemic and conclude that in order to be best prepared for another pandemic we must focus on systematic changes to further strengthen our DA support services.

References

[1] AR McKinley, ‘How did UK social distancing restrictions affect the lives of women experiencing intimate partner violence during the COVID-19 pandemic? A qualitative exploration of survivor views’ (2023) 23(123) BMC Public Health 45.

[2] Natasha Cortis, ‘Adapting Service Delivery during COVID-19: Experiences of Domestic Violence Practitioners ‘ (2021) 51(5) The British Journal of Social Work 1786.

[3] Jasmina Panovska-Griffiths, ‘Impact of the first national COVID-19 lockdown on referral of women experiencing domestic violence and abuse in England and Wales’ (2022) 22(504) BMC Public Health.

[4] Shadow Pandemic, Shadow Pandemic – Shining A Light On Domestic Abuse During Covid, 3rd November 2021 <https://www.womensaid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Shadow_Pandemic_Report_FINAL.pdf> accessed 28 March 2023.

[5] Andrew Campbell, ‘An increasing risk of family violence during the Covid-19 pandemic: Strengthening community collaborations to save lives’ (2020) 2(1) Forensic Science International: Reports

About the Author

This blog post was written by Titlee Pandey, LLM student in Medical Law & Ethics, in March 2023 for the Contemporary Issues in Medical Jurisprudence course.

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

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