Rising numbers of women in England are experiencing domestic abuse at Christmas, with Refuge, the leading support service in England, saying that calls and contacts to the national domestic abuse helpline in 2023 were still far higher than pre-pandemic, with 171,490 calls in the year ending March 2023, Rachel Hall reports for The Guardian. The charity is warning that Christmas, when there are always more incidents of domestic abuse, presents specific challenges such as social isolation and increased costs … Read the rest
As migration from South America to the US-Mexico border once again surges, advocates warn that sexual violence is likewise expected to rise, particularly among women and girls, Alícia Fàbregas reports for Al Jazeera. In 2023, the humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) treated 397 cases of sexual violence in the Darién Gap, a sliver of land connecting Colombia to Panama and major migration route. In one week alone, the group saw 59 cases. Those numbers, reported last month, mark … Read the rest