COVID-19: With Rise Of Domestic Violence Cases, Angelina Jolie Bats For Protection Of Children!

The Childline India helpline received more than 92,000 SOS calls asking for protection from abuse and violence in 11 days. Heartwrenching, right?

Well, it only signifies that the lockdown has turned into extended captivity not just for many women but even children continue to be trapped with their abusers at home.

According to a PTI report, of the 3.07 lakh calls received by the ¡®CHILDLINE 1098¡¯ helpline for children in distress across the country between March 20-31, covering the first week of the lockdown, 30% were about protection against abuse and violence on children, said Harleen Walia, deputy director of Childline India.

Helpline

The total comes to 92,105 calls. Well, it's just India.

Angelina Jolie, who has also stood up for social causes and child-rights has written an essay for Time magazine. It's an important one as he made some legit points on risks that children all around the world are facing amid the Pandemic.

Writing that Children "are especially vulnerable to so many of the secondary impacts of the pandemic on society," including domestic violence within families isolated at home, she wants people to stand up for vulnerable children.

Representational Image

In an essay published for Time on Sunday, she wrote,

"Of the many ways that the pandemic is making us rethink our humanity, none is more important, or urgent, than the overall protection of children. They are especially vulnerable to so many of the secondary impacts of the pandemic on society."

She insisted that because of the lock-down and pandemic, many have lost their jobs and are struggling financially.

Angelina Jolie/Agencies

"We know that stress at home increases the risk of domestic violence," she writes.

Angelina Jolie

"In America, an estimated 1 in 15 children is exposed to intimate partner violence each year ¡ª 90 percent of them as eyewitnesses to the violence. An average of 137 women across the world are killed by a partner or family member every day. We will never know how many of these cases there is a child in the next room ¡ª or in the room itself."

Jolie believes that social distancing could inadvertently "fuel a direct rise in trauma and suffering for vulnerable children".

Agencies

"There are already reports of a surge in domestic violence around the world, including violent killings.

"It comes at a time when children are deprived of the very support networks that help them cope: from their trusted friends and teachers to after-school sports activities and visits to a beloved relative's house that provide an escape from their abusive environment," the actor added.

Agencies

Jolie urged people to reach out to family and friends who might be in vulnerable situations and educate themselves on the signs of domestic violence.

"It is often said that it takes a village to raise a child. It will take an effort by the whole of our country to give children the protection and care they deserve," the actor concluded the essay.