Home Quaratines Lead to Domestic Violence Spike

A poster spreads awareness of domestic violence

With people in China stuck at home under quarantine for over a month, there are jokes that the country's birth rate may spike in nine months with people not having much to do other than eat and sleep...

However, at the same time there has been an appalling increase in domestic violence, and the authorities aren't doing much to deal with what has been a crime since 2016 with the anti-domestic violence law.

There are no nationwide statistics, only numbers and anecdotes from rights activists who are trying to help victims get away from their abusers. But physically escaping can be almost impossible when cities are under lockdown and no one is allowed to get out.

Community checkpoints make it hard for victims to escape

Wan Fei is a retired police officer who founded an anti-domestic violence nonprofit in Jingmen in Hubei province. He says the reports of domestic violence have nearly doubled since cities were put under lockdown.

Since February 27, the police station in Jianli county that administers Jingmen, had received 162 reports of domestic violence in February -- three times more than the 47 reported during the same month last year. The number of cases reported in January also doubled compared to the same period in the previous year.

"The epidemic has had a huge impact on domestic violence," said Wan. "According to our statistics, 90 percent of the causes of violence are related to the coronavirus epidemic."

As of today China has over 80,000 confirmed cases, and over 2,900 deaths.

He believes the fear and anxiety from being quarantined for a long period of time as well as the economic stress it has put on families has resulted in the uptick of domestic violence cases.

Feng Yuan says the police should do more to help victims

But at the same time because the epidemic is being prioritized, other social services are being shunted by the wayside.

Wan reports there are shelters for victims of domestic violence in other parts of the country that have been turned into homeless shelters by the authorities, leaving victims with no where to go.

Feng Yuan, who is the director of Beijing-based women's rights nonprofit Weiping, says they have received a significant number of domestic violence-related cases since Chinese New Year a little over a month ago, around the time many cities went into lockdown.

She said the police should be more proactive in registering victims' complaints instead of having excuses not to help them.

"The police can detain people for insulting [respiratory disease expert] Zhong Nanshan online and arrest someone for not wearing a mask on the street. It looks to me like the epidemic has not affected their law enforcement capacity," Feng says. "If they use the epidemic as an excuse to not deal with domestic violence cases, that's not acceptable."

Weiping is reaching out to victims by livestreaming a workshop to let them know what to do if they become a victim or witness domestic violence.

"It's very important to let domestic violence survivors know their rights, and as witnesses we should all give them confidence and support," Feng says.

Another good reason to hope China can contain the coronavirus as soon as possible...