H.E. Ursula von der Leyen President European Commission
European Parliament, 11 May 2020
RE: RISE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DURING CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC
Honourable President,
We, undersigned members of the European Parliament are sincerely worried about the dramatic increase in domestic violence cases during the lockdown caused by the coronavirus epidemics in the member states of the European Union and beyond.
We are of the conviction that both member states and the European Commission should introduce special measures to protect effective and potential victims of domestic violence.
French Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Marlène Schiappa revealed that domestic violence across France increased by 32% in one week, in Paris alone it rose by as much as 36%. The French secretary of state rightly pointed out that addressing the situation has become more difficult, and even the emergency number to report domestic abuses has received fewer calls due to the fact that during quarantine “the victims are on lockdown with their abusers”.
Another member state, notably the Hungarian government, used the pandemic to have the Parliament adopted a resolution in an extraordinary procedure to reject the Istanbul Convention becoming legally binding in Hungary and the European Union. Deputy Prime Minister Mr Zsolt Semjén’s argued that while the government wanted to eliminate violence, the aim of the Istanbul Convention is to eliminate the families. As you can see, the attitudes of member states can be much diverse.
The rise of domestic violence, however, is a dramatic development in all of our member states. Due to the lockdown, tolerance in many families decrease, the functioning of state agencies and civil society organisations is also limited, and victims have fewer opportunities to seek for protection.
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The European Commission has always been firmly committed to combatting domestic violence. We, members of the European Parliament appreciate and highly value the activities of the European Commission in this respect. The lockdown resulted by the pandemic, however, raises the issue to a more severe level than ever before.
We request the European Commission, after having identified the severe nature of the problem, to make the necessary measures to confine domestic violence in all member states, make them ratify the Istanbul Treaty to bend every effort to protect fundamental rights of our citizens.
Yours faithfully:
Klára DOBREV Csaba MOLNÁR
Sándor RÓNAI Attila ARA-KOVÁCS
Karin KARLSBRO István UJHELYI
Marc ANGER Maria WALSH
Sylwia SPUREK Gabrielle BISCHOFF
Predrag Fred MATIĆ Evelyn REGNER
Łukasz KOHUT Marianne VIND
Marisa MATIAS José GUSMÃO
Vlad-Marius BOTOŞ Alice KUHNKE
Irène TOLLERET Agnes JONGERIUS
Christel SCHALDEMOSE Abir AL-SAHLANI
Dragoș PÎSLARU Clare DALY
Milan BRGLEZ Carles PUIGDEMONT,
Antoni COMÍN I OLIVERES, Clara PONSATÍ
Izaskun BILBAO BARANDICA Dietmar KÖSTER
Isabel CARVALHAIS Miriam DALLI
Ilhan KYUCHYUK Erik MARQUARDT
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Maria GRAPINI Anna DONÁTH
Maria NOICHL Pascal DURAND
Cornelia ERNST Pina PICIERNO
Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP Petros KOKKALIS
Ramona STRUGARIU Cindy FRANSSEN
Vera TAX Sylvie BRUNET
Rosa D'AMATO Laurence FARRENG
Alessandra MORETTI Robert BIEDROŃ
Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS
Terry REINTKE Hilde VAUTMANS
Nikos ANDROULAKIS Malin BJÖRK
Ewa KOPACZ Bettina VOLLATH
Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA Margarida MARQUES
Chrysoula ZACHAROPOULOU Elena KOUNTOURA
Heléne FRITZON Fabienne KELLER
Markéta GREGOROVÁ Jytte GUTELAND
Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN Tonino PICULA
Francisco GUERREIRO Eva KAILI
Carmen AVRAM Anne-Sophie PELLETIER
Manon AUBRY Tilly METZ
Christophe GRUDLER Brando BENIFEI
Alex AGIUS SALIBA Frances FITZGERALD
Kim VAN SPARRENTAK Alexis GEORGOULIS
Hannah NEUMANN Tanja FAJON