Women call for end to domestic violence after lockdowns bring more attacks

Women around the world on Wednesday marked International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, highlighting how lockdowns due to the pandemic had left many trapped with their abusers and exposed to greater danger.

In Portugal, the OMA observatory, which monitors femicide, said so far in 2020, 30 women had been murdered, half of them victims of domestic violence. The government said there was a 6% drop in the number of complaints about violence in the first 10 months of 2020 from a year ago, which it said was a worrying sign that women struggled to access help during lockdown.