Violence Against Women: It’s even worse during pandemic

As the year of the pandemic winds down, it becomes even more clear that Covid-19 led to an increase in gender-based violence.

Brac has released data on complaints about such violence its legal aid services and village violence prevention committees received throughout the year. The data shows an upwards trend during recent months.

The number of complaints received at the 408 legal aid clinics between June and October increased, on an average, by 16 percent, compared to last year.

September was the only exception with a decrease in the number of complaints reported to those clinics, run by the Human Rights and Legal Aid Services Programme.

Among the complaints received, those of "non-compoundable criminal offences" were also higher this year compared to last year -- 2,412 in 2020 versus 1,739 in 2019. "Non-compoundable criminal offence" includes grave criminal acts like rape, attempt to rape, and domestic torture.

The data shows that rape complaints rose by 63 percent on average (excluding May and September which showed slight dips).

Meanwhile, "Polli Shomaj", the organisation's ward-level units, reported over 2,000 more incidences of violence against women and children across 54 districts, this year than they did last year.

"Polli Shomaj" groups include women members from all wards of a union council and they undertake activities such as stopping child marriages.

According to data provided by Brac, Polli Shomaj prevented 371 child marriages between January and September in 2019, while 97 incidents of child marriage were reported by community members. During the same time period in 2020, they prevented 646 incidents of child marriage, while community members reported 146 incidents of child marriage.

The crisis worsened from July, the data shows.

"We saw a rise in underage marriages and domestic violence," said Md Abdul Hai, a programme organiser from Damarhuda in Chuadanga, who is working for Brac's Community Empowerment Programme.

"People were home and unemployed. The families are going through poverty. Since the men are home, they are constantly interfering in the women's domestic duties, leading to altercations. The girls are home and not working or studying, so they are being seen as a burden," described Hai.

"In the last year, I stopped five underage marriages in Damarhuda. There were also four or five such marriages I could not prevent. All the brides were 13 or 14," he added.

"Domestic violence has also increased. I had to intervene in a marriage, where a 17-year-old bride was being tortured for dowry of Tk 1 lakh. The husband beat her up and broke her arm. Then she was beaten up again by a mob led by a woman her husband was having an extra-marital affair with, and she needed to be hospitalised," narrated Hai.

Special attention must be paid to adolescent girls, especially those between 10 and 18 years, recommended a media brief circulated by Brac.