As of: 25.12.2021 4:17 a.m.
In the corona pandemic, significantly more victims of domestic violence sought help from the White Ring. The organization saw its numbers soar, especially after the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns.
According to the White Ring, violence in partnerships and families has increased significantly during the corona pandemic. “In terms of domestic violence, we have recorded an increase of around ten percent in 2020, and even 20 percent since 2018. And we will probably reach the level of 2020 again this year,” said the national chairman of the aid organization, Jörg Ziercke. Overall, the volunteers in the 400 or so branch offices would have looked after around 17,000 cases in 2020.
“20 percent of all cases that we deal with in the White Ring now relate to domestic violence,” said Ziercke. “26 percent are sex crimes.”
Sudden rise after lockdowns
The prognosis that domestic violence will increase with the pandemic and lockdown and that this will become clear with a delay effect has been confirmed, said Ziercke. A few weeks after the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, the trend jumped upwards and the willingness of the victims to get in touch increased.
The number of calls to the victim’s telephone and online counseling has also increased, reported Ziercke, who was formerly head of the Federal Criminal Police Office. From 2019 to 2020, the number of calls rose by around 4,000 to around 22,000, i.e. by around 20 percent. “We believe the trend will be on a similar level this year as well.”
The number of online consultations even doubled from 2019 to 2020, to 3350 cases. At the time, however, it was still brand new, and this could also be a reason. This year, a plus of seven to ten percent can be expected again.
Most of the victims are women
Around 80 percent of victims of domestic violence are women, according to the White Ring. “And this share has risen again by three to five percent since 2020.”
However, this increase is not a clear lightening of the dark field, it has rather increased due to the cramped living conditions and “the constant sitting on top of each other in lockdown phases”. This is also proven by the increase in domestic violence in the police crime statistics from 15 percent to 150,000 last year.