Citation

Rahman FI, Islam MR. Womens Health (Lond. Engl.) 2021; 17: e17455065211043851.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Future Medicine)

DOI

10.1177/17455065211043851

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Sexual violence can be defined as a range of activities from verbal sexual harassment to sexual force for involuntary penetration. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), sexual violence is "any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or other act directed against a person's sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting". Rape is a severe form of sexual violence. WHO defined rape as "physical violence against the body with coerced penetration of the vulva, anus, or oral cavity". Worldwide, one in every three women suffers from sexual violence by their close partners or non-partners.1 However, this behavior abruptly increased by 20% during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic across the world.2 A study reported interpersonal violence against women during COVID-19 quarantine.3 In Bangladesh, we also noticed a case of sexual violence against a woman at an institutional quarantine center.4 Therefore, we aimed to discuss the associated risk factors of such sexual behaviors and actionable items that might prevent this sort of crime in Bangladesh.

Government-imposed quarantines in Bangladesh are necessary to curb the spread of the coronavirus from the present COVID-19 hotspots, India.5,6 However, the people of Bangladesh detested enforced institutional quarantine from the very beginning of the pandemic due to limited facilities, poor living conditions, and security concerns.7 The potential reason behind this increased sexual violence is the low rate of help-seeking behavior of victimized women. In Bangladesh, about 90% of perpetrators of rape cases reported that they did not have any legal consequences for raping.8 Also, lockdowns and movement restrictions have created high exposure of women to the abusive male perpetrator during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sexual violence and rapes against women have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.9 Based on the statistics from "Odhikar", an organization of human rights defenders in Bangladesh, incidences of rape had increased by 42% in 2020 compared to the prior year, and a total of 317 women and children have become victims of rape in January to March of 2021 alone.10,11 Also, mental health disorders, domestic violence, and suicide incidences have increased during COVID-19 in Bangladesh.12-14 Sexual violence against women at quarantine center might exacerbate the growing concerns and fears of general people about institutional quarantines. On the contrary, sexual harassment and dowry-related violence against....

Language: en

Keywords

Bangladesh; risk factors; sexual violence; rape; coronavirus disease 2019