Tri Indah Oktavianti, Jakarta – Greater Jakarta has seen an uptick in domestic abuse reports in the first month of home-quarantining for the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation of the Indonesian Women Association for Justice (LBH Apik) said it recorded 59 cases of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault and online pornography from March 16 to 30. Seventeen of the 59 cases involved domestic abuse.
"This is the highest number of domestic violence cases we've ever recorded [in a period of two weeks]," LBH Apik's director Situ Zuma told The Jakarta Post.
She added that 14 of those cases had been handed over to the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) on March 27.
The figure has tripled because normally, LBH Apik would refer five cases per day to Komnas Perempuan, she said. "The violence ranges from physical abuse to psychological [and verbal abuse]."
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged governments to include the protection of women in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The call came after reports of domestic violence surged globally in the wake of massive quarantines.
India reported double the usual number of domestic abuse cases in the first week of its nationwide lockdown. In France, domestic violence rose by a third in the week after the country's lockdown.