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Violence against women, a double emergency in the times of Covid

2020-11-24T19:42:46.357Z


The data from an Action Aid monitoring of resources and the implementation of the 2017-2020 anti-violence plan show that only 10% of the 2019 funds have reached the anti-violence centers © Ansa


The pandemic also puts a strain on those who work on the front line to defend women from male violence.

A phenomenon that is perhaps less talked about but which is always insidious and disturbing, especially for the many women forced into the house - due to the various lockdowns - together with violent husbands and companions.

Close to

25 November

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

, the ActionAid association has released a monitoring on the phenomenon of violence, the funds allocated to the sector, the situation in the Regions struggling with the Covid-19 emergency .



The anti-violence centers (CAV) and the shelters, says ActionAid, "during the pandemic are the only spaces that continued to function of the anti-violence system, a mechanism often malfunctioning or even jammed. Only the enormous commitment put in place by the CAV, also in the most critical situations such as those in Lombardy, it guaranteed women who suffer violence to be supported ".

During the first lockdown, when after an initial collapse the number of calls for help to 1522, between March and June 2020 more than doubled compared to 2019 with 15,280 requests (+ 119.6%), in Lombardy, for example, there is there was a strong reduction in staff in the AVCs caused by the halving of the number of volunteers - generally of medium-high age and therefore at risk of contagion - and by the illness or quarantine of operators.

In addition, the Centers were forced to work grueling shifts, as in the case of the province of Cremona, which extended its availability 24 hours a day with human resources reduced by 50%.

This in the face of delays and the lack of standard procedures of the institutions.

From the scarcity of masks and gloves (distributed only in very few cases by local institutions such as in Brescia) to the impossibility of accessing tampons, up to the lack of adequate space for fiduciary isolation.

Despite the circular sent in March 2020 by the Ministry of the Interior to the Prefectures to make alternative accommodation available, the centers - with the exception of those in Pavia - were forced to resort to bed & breakfasts or apartments made available by acquaintances and individuals.

This is what is denounced by the new ActionAid report that monitors the state funds provided for by law 119/2013 (the law on femicide) together with the implementation of the 2017-2020 anti-violence plan.

The 2020 report also focused on the response to the Covid19 emergency in Lombardy, Calabria and Sicily, highlighting the now historic delays in the distribution and disbursement of funds from the State to the Regions, which the pandemic has made even more serious.

Difficulties that could have been avoided especially if the national plans against violence had been regularly implemented from 2014 to today.

“It is not tolerable that institutions present themselves unprepared to face a new lockdown.

The epidemic has given us lessons that we must not forget, first of all the essential role of CAVs and shelters in territorial support for women, which have shown great adaptability in reinventing a rapid intervention model that works only with supports. adequate.

It is necessary to get out of the emergency logic to create a strong and lasting system.

With the second pandemic wave, CAVs run the risk of reaching the limit of their survival and resilience capabilities.

Today it is necessary to set up an emergency fund with additional and readily available resources ”explains Elisa Visconti, Program Manager of ActionAid.

Resources and bureaucratic delays

.

For 2019, the Equal Opportunities Department has allocated € 30 million among the Regions, of which € 20 million to be allocated to the ordinary operation of shelters and anti-violence centers and € 10 million for the anti-violence plan.

In Covid times, to respond to the new needs of reception facilities, the Minister for Equal Opportunities has signed a decree of accelerated procedure for the transfer of resources for 2019 providing for the possibility of using the funds allocated to the anti-violence plan to cover expenses. health emergency.

After 6 months only 5 Regions have disbursed the funds: Abruzzo, Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Lombardy, Molise and Veneto.

In detail, the resources paid for 2019 are equal to 10%.

To date, no decree has been issued by the DPO for the 2020 anti-violence funds.

The Anti-violence Plan, the missed opportunity

.

We are on the eve of the elaboration of the new National Plan, but the analysis of the implementation of the National Strategic Plan on Male Violence Against Women - adopted in 2017 and made operational with a plan approved two years later - reveals its incompleteness and non-compliance. the promised transparency of processes and decisions.

The resources actually committed are insufficient to cover the planned actions and it is impossible to verify whether they are actually spent.

Prevention, the great absent

.

If the activities envisaged as part of the prevention axis of anti-violence plans had been fully implemented over the years, during the emergency it would not have been necessary to send an ad hoc circular to the police to raise awareness of domestic violence and encourage thus the emergence of requests for help from women.

Or, if 1522 were regularly and widely advertised as planned, women would be informed about the services they could ask for help.  

The recommendations

.

ActionAid, on the basis of what is shared by the operators of the Centers, has formulated concrete recommendations to ensure the prompt activation of the protection and prevention system in the event of new emergencies.

Indeed, it is necessary to ensure the full functioning of the anti-violence territorial networks and to establish standard operating procedures.

It is also urgent to establish an immediately available national emergency fund.

Finally, awareness-raising and communication activities must be strengthened from the very beginning of the emergency, guaranteeing widespread dissemination of information about the existence and functioning of anti-violence centers.

Fund # closed4women

.

To allow the structures to meet unexpected expenses, ActionAid created the emergency fund # closed4women last March.

24 Centers throughout Italy were able to quickly purchase health devices (masks, disinfectant, gloves), sanitize the premises, provide continuity to psychological and legal support services, provide food aid, financially support the women who had to interrupt autonomy and job placement paths due to Covid19.

189 women were involved, in turn 100 daughters and dependent sons benefited from support.

ActionAid relaunches the Emergency Fund with a new loan to support the Cavs in this second phase of the pandemic.

Source: ansa

All life articles on 2020-11-24

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