GERMANY: CALLS TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINES HAVE INCREASE 20% MORE DURING PANDEMIC

Mon 10 May 2021:

The domestic violence hotline in Germany has seen a significant increase in calls in 2020 compared to the year before, the head of the “Violence Against Women” line said on Monday.

“We consulted 50,400 people last year, 42,000 calls were for domestic violence. We are talking about a 20% increase versus the year before,” Petra Soechting told a news conference.

Soechting, an official with the Federal agency for family and civil society affairs, said the average number of calls per week spiked from 850 in March 2020, when the coronavirus lockdown began, to 1,300 in the following month.

Starting April 2020, every third call on the hotline was for domestic violence, she estimated.

The number of calls by victims’ neighbors, friends and relatives also jumped 20%.

Soechting said that the lockdown made it harder for shelters to take in victims due to social distancing rules. Children’s services and family consultants reported same difficulties.

“Providing fast and burocracy-free assistance to women in need of shelter became much harder,” she admitted.

She said the number of calls for help that required involvement of police and rescue services rose by more than 40%. Almost 40% of calls were made in the evening and at night.

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