This new ActionAid briefing paper examines the issue of gender-based violence during the Covid-19 pandemic.
ActionAid has monitored service users and referrals to women's shelters and hotlines across seven countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East and compared data from March to May 2020, during lockdown, to comparable data from previous years.
The new findings show that, whilst domestic violence has surged world-wide, services across the globe are being cut or closed, leaving women trapped - or forced to return to - dangerous households.