コロナ外出禁止令で悪化する「ＤＶ地獄」、中南米諸国で警鐘

【ブエノスアイレスＡＦＰ＝時事】中南米諸国で支援団体などに助けを求めるドメスティック・バイオレンス（DV）被害者の女性や少女からの電話が急増している。新型コロナウイルス流行による外出禁止令のために、ここ数週間、家に閉じ込められている被害者女性たちは、身も凍るような責め苦に遭っている。（写真は資料写真）
　アルゼンチンでは政府が３月２０日に外出禁止令を発令して以降、最初の２０日間で１８人の女性がパートナーや元パートナーに殺害された。電話相談の件数は４割近く増えている。
　首都があるブエノスアイレス州ではロックダウン（都市封鎖）開始から間もなくして、母親と７歳の娘が母親のパートナーに殺害され、家の裏庭に埋められていた遺体が発見される事件が起きた。また住民の通報で警官が駆けつけると、夫が妻をハンマーで殴り殺そうとしていたという事件もあった。
　国連ラテンアメリカ・カリブ経済委員会ジェンダー平等観測所の予備データによると、２０１９年の１年間に中南米諸国で殺害された女性は前年比８％増の３８００人という驚くべき数字に上る。
　アントニオ・グテレス国連事務総長は「不幸にも多くの女性や少女が、特に本来ならば守られるべき場所、つまり自宅の中で暴力にさらされている」と指摘している。各国がロックダウンを延長し４月に入った時点でグテレス氏は、新型コロナウイルス対策の一環に「女性の保護」を盛り込むよう各国政府に強く求めた。
　アルゼンチンの女性支援ＮＧＯ「ラ・カサ・デル・エンクエトロ」のアダ・リコ氏は「女性たちは毎日、パートナーや元パートナーに自宅で虐待され、レイプされ、殴打されている」と懸念を示している。
　メキシコやブラジル、チリ、他の中南米諸国でも状況は同様に深刻だ。こうした国では、被害者を適切に保護しようとする当局の取り組みが圧倒的に足りていない。
　メキシコ市にある国立女性研究所のナディン・ガスマン所長も、３月２４日のロックダウン開始以来、「緊急通報が増えている」という。女性に対する暴力について調査し、メキシコで女性が被害者となった殺人事件を地図化したマリア・サルゲロ氏は、外出禁止令開始以来、これまでに約２００人の女性が殺害されたと推定する。
　ブラジルの新型ウイルス流行の中心地となっているサンパウロでも、州政府の外出禁止令発令以来、ＤＶ被害の報告が３０％増えている。
　一方、夜間外出禁止令と感染拡大地域に絞った外出制限が課されているチリでは、首都サンティアゴの上流階級地区プロビデンシアで、ＤＶを告発する相談などが普段の５倍にも上っている。
　チリの保健当局幹部は、新型ウイルスの危機によって「飲酒量が増え、メンタルヘルスにも影響が生じ、不安や抑うつも増大すると同時に家庭内の暴力も増えている」と警告している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/04/22-13:08）

Weeks of confinement imposed by the coronavirus pandemic is taking a chilling toll on women and girls across Latin America, where the number of calls to helplines have soared, made by victims of domestic violence who cannot flee.
Appeals to help women experiencing violence in the home have redoubled in recent weeks, from the United Nations to Pope Francis -- Latin America's first pontiff.
The confinement is plunging thousands of women into hell, trapped with an attacker who they are more afraid of than the coronavirus, said Victoria Aguirre from the Argentine NGO MuMaLa, which campaigns against violence related to macho culture.
In Argentina, 18 women have been killed by their partner or ex-partners during the first 20 days of a mandatory quarantine instituted by the government from March 20. Appeals to helplines in Argentina are up nearly 40 percent.
The country is still reeling from the shocking murder of Cristina Iglesias and her seven-year-old daughter Ada, killed by her mother's partner in the early days of the lockdown.
Their two bodies were found buried in the backyard of their home in a town in Buenos Aires province.
Elsewhere, police -- alerted by neighbors -- arrived in the nick of time to save a woman whose husband attacked her with a hammer.
- Living in fear -
A staggering 3,800 women were murdered in Latin America in 2019, an 8 percent increase on the previous year, according to preliminary data from the Observatory for Gender Equality at CEPAL, the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Unfortunately, many women and girls are particularly exposed to violence precisely where they should be protected, in their own homes, said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who issued a call for a domestic violence ceasefire as lockdowns extended into April.
You live in fear of turning your back on him. It is only later, when the bruises appear, that you realize that he could have killed you, Luciana, a 25-year-old victim of domestic violence, told AFP. She was badly beaten by her ex-husband.
Every day, a women is abused, raped or beaten at home by her partner or her ex, said Ada Rico, from the NGO La Casa del Encuentro.
In normal times, we would help her to file a complaint. These days, the urgency is to get her out of the house as quickly as possible.
The situation is similarly grim in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and elsewhere, where measures taken by the authorities often fall far short of properly protecting victims.
In Mexico, emergency calls have increased since the start of the lockdown on March 24, said Nadine Gasman, head of the National Women's Institute in Mexico City.
Maria Salguero, who researches violence against women and created a femicide map around the country, estimated that around 200 women have been murdered since quarantine measures began.
- Rape and murder -
The sordid murder of Ana Paola, a 13-year-old who was raped and beaten to death by a burglar in the northeastern state of Sonora in early April, provoked widespread disgust and anger in Mexico.
Emergency calls to the National Refugee Network, an NGO which caters to women victims of violence, have increased by 60 percent since the beginning of the confinement period. The number of women taken into care by the organization is up 5 percent.
With more than 1,000 femicides in 2019, two recent brutal murders -- one of a seven-year-old girl -- once again highlighted a lack of action by authorities.
Mexican feminist activists have demanded more effective policies from President Andres Manuel Lopez to combat the wave of violence.
It's a similar case in Peru, where 2019 femicides were the highest in a decade.
In Sao Paulo, the epicenter of Brazil's virus outbreak, reports of domestic violence have risen by 30 percent since the state government imposed a stay-at-home order.
A group of 700 volunteers have formed a vigilante network to provide victims with medical, legal and psychological assistance through a WhatsApp messaging service.
In Chile, which has opted for selective confinement in the most affected areas plus a nighttime curfew, complaints of domestic violence are up 500 percent in Providencia, an upper class neighborhood in the capital Santiago.
The crisis has resulted in increased alcohol consumption, mental health effects, increased anxiety, depression and violence within families, said senior health official Paula Daza.