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. 2 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 3 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 .