RUSSIA GOES INTO LOCKDOWN, Why

   

   As coronavirus cases in Russia rise rapidly, many cities across the country have gone into lockdown. At the time of writing, all of Russia's large cities scored four to five points on Yandex's “self-isolation map“: meaning that there is “nearly nobody on the streets.”

   Home should be a refuge from the pandemic — but for many women and girls, it means being locked up with a serial abuser.

   “For a large number of women and children, home can be a place of fear and abuse,” said Dubravka Šimonović, the UN's Special Rapporteur on violence against women, in her recent believes that the coronavirus will lead to a surge in violence against women. Across the world, that already appears to be happening. In Brazil, China, Cyprus, Italy, and Spain, activists and local authorities have recently reported an “explosive increase” in desperate pleas for help from terrified women, following the tightening of restrictions on public movement.

   Will Russia follow suit? On March 30, Oksana Pushkina, deputy chairperson of the State Duma committee on women, children, and family affairs, noted that the country had around 15 crisis centres for victims of domestic violence, many of which have already closed due to quarantine regulations. On April 2, nine Russian public organisations working with victims of domestic violence appealed to the government to urgently protect and support vulnerable people in quarantine. They called for the creation of a coordination centre to help victims, the maintenance of shelters, public information campaigns against domestic violence, education for law enforcement on how to tackle the problem, and exempting victims of domestic violence from the fines and other punishments for leaving quarantine.

   The outlook in Russia is grim; for several years, human rights defenders and feminist activists have tried and failed to secure official recognition of and protection for victims of domestic violence. Since the 1990s, about 40 drafts have been proposed. A bill in 2016 was rejected. The following year, the State Duma relaxed punishments for some forms of domestic violence, amid a conservative campaign for “family values.” Last December, Pushkina and several activists submitted a draft law against domestic violence. It has not yet been adopted, and faces strong resistance.

   That's why many feminists feel that Russia simply hasn't treated domestic violence seriously. Now, vulnerable women could pay a heavy price.