Amid the “trying times” of lockdowns and other measures to combat Covid-19 “one good thing has surfaced: the world has woken up to domestic abuse,” according to Suzanne Jacob, chief executive of SafeLives.
“Since March 2020, the government has offered extra funding, the media has repeatedly engaged with the topic, employers started to consider their duty of care to staff working from home, and in January this year the Prime Minister directly referenced the needs of victims in a televised press conference. Our collective awareness of domestic abuse has never been greater,” she wrote in an opinion piece on the organisation’s website entitled One Year On.
“Yet we cannot take our foot off the gas: we cannot go back to sleep. Over the last few weeks girls and women of all ages, identities and backgrounds have poured out their experiences of abusive and violent experiences in a way they haven’t in many years.
“We must ensure that this new level of engagement grows. We must make the most of this moment.”
She also commented: “The world has changed over the last 12 months … Many things will not return to how they were. Let’s make sure the raised public awareness of domestic abuse is one of them, not letting victims and survivors be collateral damage around coronavirus.”
