Violence against women doubled since Corona outbreak

The minister of information, Manal Abdel Samad, stressed on Saturday that women have a crucial role as leaders anywhere in the world. Abdel Samad was speaking during her participation in a high-level online meeting with UN delegation representatives on the impact women leaders have in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic. In her speech, Abdel Samad maintained that the “spotlight is always on female leaders not only to establish and document their achievements, but also to anticipate their possible failure”. Women play a positive and strong role to change the world into a better place, the minister noted. Over the past 5 months, we have noticed a steady rise in cases of violence and domestic abuse against women and children, locally, regionally and globally, she indicated. Citing victims reporting such cases, Abdel Samad said women and girls felt less safe since the Corona-related lockdown in Lebanon. The ISF hotline ‘1745’ dedicated for domestic violence cases, showed that incoming calls nearly doubled between March 2020 and May 2020, reaching up to 97 calls in March compared 161 calls during May, Abdel Samad said. (Al Diyar, June 7, 2020)