DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The most widespread type of gender-based violence is the violence against women which results in psychological, physical, and sexual violence. Domestic violence is a crime that is most often reported by the victims of domestic violence. However, it can be reported by anyone who has got indication and knowledge about it, such as a family member, or someone from the neighborhood, relatives, friends, etc. Institutions which work in this domain, such as the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Justice, as well as the non-governmental sector which offers free legal aid to the victims of domestic violence, are of particular importance. During the corona virus pandemic, the victims of domestic violence who need help, most often women and girls, are given support to be encouraged to report these cases to the competent institutions on the telephone number 192, or at the nearest police station. In addition to restrictive measures during curfew and prohibited movement of citizens, potential victims of domestic violence get a feeling of anxiety, fear, powerlessness, and captivity with the perpetrator of violence. The subject of the research are reported cases in the field of domestic violence before and during the pandemic of Covid-19, i.e., criminal acts and complaints from domestic violence, as well as the structural analysis by the Departments of Interior. The time frame that will be covered is the statistics for 2018, 2019, and 2020 from the Ministry of Interior in the Republic of North Macedonia. The Ministry of Interior is the main institution in undertaking a series of measures and activities, as follows: prevention of this type of violence, receiving reports, on-site inspection, protection of the victim, detection and finding the perpetrator of violence, examination and search, documentation at an event, finding objects to prove the crime, confiscation of the firearm if the perpetrator owns or has committed a crime with it. Keywords: domestic violence, victim, perpetrator, crime, pandemic, curfew, etc