AMMAN — Social workers, forced to redirect hotline
calls to personal phones as requests for lockdown permits went unanswered,
found themselves scrambling to help the surge of cases coming across their
desks last year.
اضافة اعلان
The director of the Jordanian Women’s Union (JWU), Nadia
Shamrockh, told Jordan News that lockdown restrictions imposed in March
of last year and meant to halt the spread of COVID-19, also hindered domestic
violence help providers.
“We did not have authorization to leave our homes … to
provide adequate help to those women; we were not considered a priority service
by the authorities,” said Shamrokh.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights’ Monitor (Euro-Med
Monitor), reported that all six women protection shelters in Jordan remained
open during the lockdowns last year, but that accessing them was extremely
difficult.
According to the same report, already existing residents
were well protected and supported throughout the lockdown. However, new
referrals were delayed due to self-quarantine rules, which led many victims to
either turn to NGOs for help or return to their abusers.
“There was a big problem in receiving new cases during that
period, just after the announcement of a total lockdown,” Shamrokh said. “We
were able to manage some situations and provide additional beds, but after less
than one week of lockdown, we started receiving new cases, and any new case had
to do a PCR test and quarantine for the safety of other residents.”
Like every other institution in Jordan, shelters had to
respect protocols imposed by the Ministry of Health at that time, which
included a negative PCR test and two weeks of quarantine.
“The solution was to transform the nursery into a quarantine
area; however, it was not enough. At some point we had to rent three
neighboring houses with proper accommodations,” Shamrokh said.
Accessibility and limited capacity were the two main
problems facing women protection units, as very few women were able to leave
the shelter during that period. An increased demand for protection, which spiked
only days into the lockdown, left service providers perplexed as to whether or
not they would be able to absorb the growing demand for help they were
receiving through authorities’ intervention and hotlines, according to
Shamrokh.
The Public Security Directorate’s Family Protection
Department (FPD) announced a 33 percent increase in domestic abuse within the
first month of lockdown, according to the Euro-Med Monitor report.
However, as they go on to mention in the report, it was
likely that the 33 percent increase only represented 20 percent of the overall
spike in domestic violence during the lockdowns. They cited the Sisterhood is
Global Institute’s Jordan branch, which normally receives an average of 650
cases a year, but received 800 cases during the lockdown period alone.
”Normally we have 25 beds, but at that time we were under
pressure, rooms were getting crowded,” Shamrokh said.
Most civil society organizations, including the JWU, were
also not able to obtain permits and work in the field during lockdowns.
“We started asking women to contact the FPD and ask them for
help to reach a shelter, as we were not able to use our cars … without proper
authorization,” Shamrokh said. “We asked the Ministry of Social Development on
many occasions to provide us with authorization for at least one car. Now we
don’t ask (anymore).”
Ashraf Khreis, a Ministry of Social Development
spokesperson, told Jordan News that both at the time the JWU was
reaching out for permits and now, travel permits are only issued by one entity,
which is the National Center for Security and Crisis Management. He added that
any authorization request needs to go through them.
Eventually, the FPD and the Criminal Investigation
Department cooperated by mobilizing their cars to bring women to shelters
during curfew hours, including cases from other governorates outside Amman,
said Shamrokh.
However, the restrictions on movement posed another
challenge for victims of domestic violence during that period. The constant
presence of family members in the house “limited women’s ability to contact
hotlines and seek over-the-phone help,” according to the Euro-Med report.
Another report published in November 2020 by Takatoat, a
feminist group, said some women and girls who might normally report violence were
unable to use their phones as they were constantly monitored by family members.
The report concluded that during the lockdown period, only
19 percent of abused women sought help, of whom, only 3 percent resorted to the
FPD.
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