Study focuses on domestic violence during lockdown

Greece’s Center for Security Studies, the think tank of the Citizens’ Protection Ministry, is conducting research into reports of increased domestic violence during the lockdown amid fears that a possible second wave of the coronavirus could exacerbate the problem yet further.

The study, which started on July 30 and is to run until the end of September, is focused primarily on women aged over 16 and aims to determine the extent of the problem so that there can be an adequate response. Victims of domestic abuse are asked to fill in a questionnaire, available at www.kemea.gr anonymously.

“If there is a new wave of Covid-19 in our country, we want to know what to do,” KEMEA researcher Antonia Pothoulaki told Kathimerini. Calls to the General Secretariat for Family Policy and Gender Equality’s emergency hotline rose to 1,760 in April, at the peak of the lockdown, compared to 325 in March.