The head of the Berat court Durim Hasa has claimed that domestic violence complaints have decreased in the district due to the pandemic.
Hasa said that the Berat court had only reviewed two restraining order requests and one domestic violence case in a month and a half. He apparently attributed this to “people, staying together, [having] become friendlier and more understanding of each other.”
Though his eagerness to announce some good news in the middle of a global pandemic is understandable, the claim seems outlandish at a time when countries throughout the world are seeing a marked rise in domestic abuses, including murders, as the pandemic has effectively imprisoned many women inside with their abusers.
The low rates of domestic violence reporting Hasa refers to may be explained in part by the fact that, at this time, victims may be unable to get away from their abusers long enough to call the police.
Victims who are financially dependent on their abusers and rely on them for housing now have even less incentive to file a report. On the flip side, if a restraint order would lead to the abuser leaving the home they share with their victim, a victim may be unwilling to file for one as that would endanger her abuser’s health and safety, which could also incur enhanced judgement from their families and the community.
Additionally, as the pandemic has forced most people to remain in isolation from each other, some victims have also been physically cut off from any kind of support network or safety net that could assist them or protect them from their abuser.
The Albanian government has yet to address the domestic abuse dangers quarantine implies.
