| Overview : The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in nearly 170 countries and territories, working with governments and people on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners that can bring about results. The Corona Virus Pandemic (COVID19), just like a fiction, is changing households’ ways of life, business processes and governments behaviours all over the world. Its impact, if not immediately and successfully mitigated could reverse the gains already made in the first two decades of this century. COVID19 is a non-traditional and non-conventional shock that will continue to drive vulnerabilities of the marginalized and the vulnerable groups and communities for several years to come, if urgent and immediate actions are not taken. As countries across the globe struggle to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns are being raised about the effect of the pandemic on Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) in all countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Extended quarantine, and other physical distancing measures enacted to manage the pandemic, are feared to have increased vulnerability to GBVF. Additionally, fear of infection, and rising public demand for medical care, may potentially make accessing GBV support services (where they are integrated and are permitted to operate) in a healthcare setting difficult. UN Women estimates that globally in the past 12 months 243 million women and girls aged 15–49 years were subjected to sexual and/or physical violence perpetrated by an intimate partner. As a result of the lockdowns imposed to stop the spread of COVID-19, emerging data show that such violence has intensified. The global data and emerging statistics prompted Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, and former Deputy President of South Africa to characterize violence against women and girls as a shadow pandemic |
