How Coronavirus is changing lives of women affected by conflict.
Global pandemic irrevocably changed all our lives. It changed the way we school our children, the ways in which we socialize and work. Far from being the great equalizer, the pandemic is proving to be of the greatest threat to those who are most vulnerable. Having overwhelmed some of the best healthcare systems, it is now threatening countries whose infrastructures have been weakened by years of conflict. Only half of Yemen’s hospitals are still functional; nine years of Syrian war left its healthcare – and hospitals – in literal ruins; while South Sudan, a country of 11.7 million; has 4 ventilators at its disposal. (rescue.org)
Lack of resources is only part of the problem in current or former warzones: Syria has lost roughly half of its doctors since the beginning of the war; and travel restrictions and global lockdown mean that international aid organizations are sending fewer people in the field.
Refugees and those displaced by conflict are dependent on outside help, now made even more difficult to provide due to lack of funding and access. Often, the displaced are not only unable to utilize social distancing due to overcrowding; they lack the ability to practice even the most basic protection against the virus: handwashing. Refugee camps make Coronavirus prevention impossible and treatment unobtainable.
Coronaviurs presents an additional layer of insecurity for women who, as a group, are disproportionately affected by conflict: prior to the pandemic, for example, as a result of the war and subsequent displacement, Syrian woman’s life expectancy plummeted by 20 years since 2011. Maternal mortality rates and increase in numbers of child marriages are only the most visible statistics in that trend.
Now coronavirus ushered a less talked about ‘shadow pandemic’: that of violence against women.’ Spiking globally since the beginning of the outbreak, the figures reported around the world were so staggering that the UN chief issued a call to action to protect women and children appealing for peace in homes and asking to make women safety a priority. (un.org)
According to the figures provided by UN Women, 240 million women had been subjected to physical or sexual violence by their domestic partners since last April. Reported incidents since the outbreak shows a significant increase of around 30 percent on average. These figures are of course less readily available when it comes to women in warzones or refugee camps, since there are very few mechanisms in place to provide help in those situations.
Women whose lives have been derailed by war are already at greater risk of gender violence.
Studies consistently show that domestic violence increases during and post-conflict. In addition to blurring of the lines between home and the battlefield; diminished focus on gender crime prevention by law enforcement as well as mandatory confinement practiced around the world during the pandemic, create a perfect storm. With decreased and diverted funding, the shelter from that storm may prove difficult to provide, postponing if not crushing any hope of healing for too many women. (unwomen.org)