CSOs CONCERNED ABOUT POTENTIAL RISE IN GBV DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

The undersigned civil society organisations are deeply concerned about the increased risks which the declaration of the state of emergency and its 28 day lockdown (from midnight on 2 April 2020) present to survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) and child abuse.

Public health outbreaks have a distinct gendered impact on women and girls. The outbreaks place women, girls and other vulnerable groups at an increased risk of GBV because of limited participation in and control of decision-making about their household response to the pandemic, shifts in social safety nets, mobility and access to information and services. It is critical therefore, for COVID-19 strategies to include protection of vulnerable groups, including gender- based violence survivors. Experiences have shown that where women are primarily responsible for procuring and cooking food for the family, increasing food insecurity, as a result of the crisis, may place them at heightened risk of intimate partner and other forms of domestic violence. This will be due to heightened tensions in the household (IASC, 2015). Other forms of GBV are also exacerbated in crisis contexts. For example, the economic impacts of the 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa placed women and children at greater risk of exploitation and sexual violence (UNGA A/70/723, 2018).

As reported by Foreign Policy (March 2020), there has been an escalation of domestic violence during the mandatory lockdowns in the UK, Italy, Germany, China and South Korea. Domestic violence in France spiked by 30 % since the lockdown. In South Africa, police received more than 87 000 genderbased violence complaints during the first week of the 21-day national lockdown. It is inevitable that Botswana will experience the same during the 28 day lockdown. Botswana, like many countries in Africa, and indeed the world, continues to contend with issues of GBV. It is one of the most common yet unacknowledged and serious human rights violations in our Southern African Development Community (SADC) region (Gender Links SADC Gender Protocol Alliance Barometer,2010). Although GBV is not confined to any gender, most survivors are women and abused children. The Botswana National Relationship Study (BNRS, 2018) revealed that 37% of women experienced some form of GBV in their lifetime. 30% of men reported perpetrating violence. Furthermore, the study revealed violence against men at 21% perpetrated by 12% of women. Women reported 36% of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and 18% (half) men reported IPV. Emotional IPV was the most common form of IPV (31%) experienced by women.
Due to this context, we believe that for those already in domestic violence situations, extreme social distancing (lockdown) which began at midnight on 2 April 2020 is likely to lead to fatalities.

Our concerns are that a lockdown and consequential isolation of the family and individuals from society will inevitably lead to the following increased risks:

1. in cases where the place of ‘extreme social distancing’ is unsafe, there is additional need for professional support and counselling;
2. for a GBV and a child abuse survivor, lockdown means being trapped in the home with their abuser and being isolated from the people and resources which could offer support;
3. people who are assaulted may be too scared to call for help or to leave their houses due to fear of further harm from the abuser. They may also be afraid that law enforcement officers who will be monitoring compliance with the lockdown regulations, will force them to return to the violent home environment, should they be found outside their houses or on the street;
4. survivors and other members of the family may face increased risk where the perpetrator may be showing signs of infection but refuse to isolate or refuse the survivor to self-isolate when showing signs of infection; and
5. the perpetrator may also threaten to evict from the home, those family members whom the perpetrator may suspect of being infected.

We had therefore, before the lockdown began on 2 April 2020, called upon the Government of Botswana to include safety advice and planning for those experiencing domestic violence, in the national government plans on COVID-19. We recommended the following as support for those likely to experience gender-based violence during this period:

1. when identifying quarantine and isolation centres, our government should give consideration to identifying places of safety in all districts for survivors of GBV and child abuse;
2. as there are social workers in all districts in Botswana, they should be on standby to provide psycho-social support to those who report GBV and child abuse;
3. a toll-free helpline should be made accessible to those requiring services. While digital contact is important, it may be difficult for the survivor to access it when they are in the presence of the perpetrator. It is important to have a number which offers texting options;
4. law enforcement officers should investigate and support survivors should they come across them on the street, as they may be out of the house trying to seek help. Every case should be treated according to its own merits. Not every person found on the street during the ‘extreme social distancing’ period should be immediately considered to be loitering or deliberately violating the lockdown regulations without valid reason; and
5. engage civil society organisations to support those experiencing GBV and child abuse. The undersigned have been working since 18 March 2020, through their own three-pronged strategy of :

• Public information and awareness raising

• Humanitarian support to the less privileged communities

• Counselling of the frontline workers and those in the quarantine centres.

We remain deeply committed to continuing to provide support to our government, as we have been doing throughout engagement with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, to date. Our counselling group (available for additional support to survivors of GBV) comprises the following, ready to provide both face-to-face and telephone counselling:

1. Botswana Gender Based Violence Prevention and Support Centre Cell No. +267 74 265 081 and +267 71 888 993 Helpline: 16510 – Send the message “Help” to this number and a staff member will call. It’s accessible to all mobile number users (accessible 24 hours) Facebook: Botswana Gender Based Violence Prevention and Support Centre (send a private message)
2. WoMen Against Rape (WAR) Cell No. +267 71 311 244 and +267 71 525 309 Facebook: Women Against Rape (send a private message)
3. Childline Botswana Call 11611 (24 hr. service). Accessible to all mobile users.
4. BOSASNet +267 72 659 891 Facebook: Botswana Substance Abuse Support Network (send a private message)
5. LeGaBiBo +267 76391762 and +267 76488051 Facebook: LEGABIBO (send a private message)

Botswana Centre for Public Integrity (BCPI), Botswana Gender Based Violence Prevention and Support Centre (BGBVC), Botswana Labour Migrants Association (BoLAMA), Botswana Substance Abuse Network (BOSASNet), CHILDLINE Botswana, DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights, Friends of Diversity, Inclusive Directions – Botswana, Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LeGaBiBo), Molayakgosi, Putting Women First Trust, Save Widows and Orphans Organisation Botswana, Skillshare International Botswana, Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance Botswana (SAAPA-Botswana), WoMen Against Rape (WAR). Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa (YALDA – Botswana).

For more information regarding this communication, please contact, on behalf of the listed organisations, Mr. Machete at 72300902.

Gaborone
4 April 2020