The Social Welfare Policies in Brazil under COVID-19

By Ingrid Rafaele Rodrigues Leiria*

1. Overview of Brazilian Case

At the beginning of 2020, Brazil and the world were surprised by the presence of a new virus, the SARS-CoV-2, known as COVID-19. By the first half of 2020, the virus had led to the infection of millions of people and the death of thousands worldwide. COVID-19 is easily transmitted, therefore a need for high prevention, frequent hand hygiene, and the use of facial masks by the population (WHO, 2020). However, when we look at the Brazilian case, there is a lot of social-economic problems that may restrict virus prevention and allow it to scatter among people even quickly. Economic inequality can be translated into an inequality in access to water and sanitation, increasing risks of disease transmission (UNESCO, UN-Water, 2020). Worldwide in 2019, 26.1 percent of the global population, did not have access to handwashing with available soap and clean water (Brauer et at., 2020). In 2018, around 32 percent of Brazilians households did not have access to basic sanitation treatment and 6.8 percent of the population with 15-year-old or up were illiterate. In urban parts of Brazil due to an accelerated and not well-implemented urbanization program, it is possible to come across slums also known as “favelas” spread around Brazilian cities. These small districts are characterized as an inequality reflection of the rapid urbanization, which led to a lack of infrastructure planning to receive citizens coming from more remote areas that were looking for job opportunities in big capitals. The residents of peripheries and favelas, as well as homeless people, are those who suffer most from such inequality. In this context, it is essential to have drinkable water, sanitation, and other basic needs as part of the state of welfare and public policies. Due to this social context, it is significant to discuss the effects of social programs active in Brazil in order to focus on the importance of socio-economic development policy — not only emphasizing on times of a pandemic but also to highlight the need for socio-economic inclusion for sustainable development.

2 Welfare State Programs in Brazil: Beyond Income

The definition of the Welfare State has been a matter of discussion throughout the years between scholars. The concept has changed accordingly to its different phases, programs, and countries. The same understandings adapted in Europe was not the same applied in the United States and also differed from those applied in Latin America.  But considering all the changes that a state of welfare can generate in society, most of the welfare state’s definitions are related to a mix of economic and social changes. Among the economic changes are the measures looking for the eradication of poverty and the diminishing of unemployment. And in the social changes could be possible to discuss the equality of opportunity through, habitation, educational and political reforms. This joint of changes could lead to a social and economic transformation lead by the government concerning to recognize the welfare aspirations of its citizens, facilitating the access to health, education, and welfare to all of those in need.

According to The United Nations International Children's Fund - UNICEF (2018) 34.3 percent of children and adolescents live in households with insufficient per capita income to have a proper meal in Brasil. And, when it is examined beyond income, analysing whether these children and teenagers despite their genders have their fundamental rights guaranteed, 61 percent of these Brazilians male and female live in poverty - being monetarily poor and/or deprived of one or more rights as the access to education, information, protections against child labour, access to clean water, and sanitation. Childhood and adolescence poverty have multiple dimensions, which go beyond money. It is the result of the interrelation between deprivations, exclusions, and the different vulnerabilities that children and adolescents are exposed to and that impact their well-being.

When referring to the basic needs of sanitation, according to the IAS report (2020), since 1940, Brazil underwent major social, economic, and political transformations resulting in large and lasting effects on basic needs as sanitation. Brazilian cities expanded with the arrival of immigrants and the migration of the rural population to urban areas, strongly impacting the services and housing infrastructures. The dissemination of the sanitation service as of local interest gained complexity from the urbanization process of cities throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Urban areas began to grow, disregarding the political and administrative limits of the cities. In parallel with legislative changes, the process of disorderly urbanization of cities has made the provision of sanitation services more complex and created greater disorganization of municipal services.

In 2008 occurred the ‘Pact for Basic Sanitation: More health, quality of life and citizenship’ (BRASIL, 2008), which in 2014 culminated in the Federative Pact to universalize access to basic sanitation services by 2033. The Pact initials goals predicted 100 percent of the country supplied with drinking water by 2023 and 92 percent of sewage treated by 2033. Majority of sanitation plans were developed between 2011 and 2013 when there was a prospect of universalizing water supply and sanitation in 20 years. However, with the political and fiscal crisis of the local states and federal government after 2016, these plans were put on hold. Between 2003 and 2017, US$36 billions were invested in sanitation. Considering the structural measures necessary for sanitation, it is estimated that US$ 122 billions of investments will be needed in the period from 2019 to 2033 to achieve universal sanitation in Brazil (IAS, 2020).

When referring to the welfare programs to guarantee education equality, The Bolsa Família, that was an improvement of Bolsa Escola was an important step to social assistantship for Brazilian’s poor income families allowing children to go to school and pursue education. In 2006, around 11 million families had already been contemplated with money transfers under Bolsa Família with the fulfilment of school attendance, maternal health care, and childhood immunizations (Rocha, 2011). Then, with Law No. 11.096 (BRASIL, 2005), the University for All Program (PROUNI) was developed aimed to grant full and partial scholarships to low income families in private institutions. This allowed students that could not afford the tuition fee of private universities, could have the opportunity to keep pursuing their studies with the government scholarship.

Even though these programs have been helping the eradication of education inequality, much yet has to be done. When considering the education of the employed population, workers with complete higher education had an average monthly income of R$ 5,189, about three times more than those with only complete high school (R$ 1,716), and it is about six times above those without instruction (R$ 884) (IBGE, 2016).

When referring to the human rights violations in form of racism, racial discrimination, and related intolerance transmitted across generations. According to the IBGE (2019), the presence of blacks or brown people was more accentuated in activities with the lowest income in Brazil, with a percentage share of Agriculture (60.8), Construction (62.6), and household services (65.1). White people, on the other hand, are the best-paid group, working in information and technology, financial public administration, education, health, and other professional areas.

Another rising problem is informality, which is also more widespread among blacks or browns, with 47.3 percent of them in this condition, against 34.6 percent of whites. This group includes employees from the private sector and domestic workers without a formal contract; noncontractual employees and employers who do not subsidize social security; and auxiliary family work. In 2018, white people earned, an average percentage of 73.9 more than blacks or browns. Also, the inequality still remains when the remuneration for hours worked is verified. The hourly income of the white colour employed (R$ 17) was 68.3 percent higher than the black or brown population (R$ 10). The biggest difference in this hourly wage was between workers with a college degree: R$ 32.8 (US$ 6.56) for whites and R$ 22.7 (US$ 4.54) for blacks or browns. The problem is beyond income since when it is discussed the education numbers, in 1997, only 1.8 percent of young people aged 18 to 24 who declared themselves black had attended a bachelor’s degree, showing that a change was necessary to allow the minority groups to access education. One of the biggest social inclusions movement that is possible to be seen in Brazil is the presence of Racial Quota, which had allowed that more black and brown people could attend the higher education system. Another progression towards racial equality was Law No. 12.288 (BRASIL, 2010) that established the Racial Equality Statute, which aims to ensure the black community the recognition of equal opportunities, the defence of the individual, ethnic rights, and the fight against discrimination and other forms of ethnic intolerance.

3. Challenges to overcome the social problems while fighting COVID-19

When looking to identify the social policies in Brazil, after the 90s the Welfare State started being seen by the positive bias of its contribution to economic development. The State was the promoter of public programs to stimulate socio-economic policy with the active participation of citizens. This partnership led to a reform of the public basic social services, improvement in the quantity and quality of job opportunities and income generation, initiatives to decrease poverty in the short term with programs providing direct income transfer such as ‘Bolsa Família’, and initiatives to reduce inequality in education with PROUNI and the quota system. The policies favouring the citizens’ welfare tend to find balance looking for the population need, regarding the minority groups, in a way to try to help them to be part of the society disregarding any type of discrimination. The speech of equal social distribution is difficult to reach in a competitive capitalist environment, so an alternative could be a fair social distribution. Everyone should have access to the minimum, to a fair health system, to a fair education, and to fair job payment.

The future post-pandemic is still uncertain in the world, in Brazil, and in its cities. Some of the measures to fight the COVID-19 depend on the local, state, and federal government policies to help the population's needs. It is significant to call attention to each locality distinct necessities which ends up requiring the government different attention and effort. However, there are public policies that should be highlighted as the influence of the Unified Health System (SUS). The state together with the private institutions, have the responsibility in times of a crisis to ensure clear and efficient answers to the people as a whole. According to the ‘Health at a Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean’ (OECD, 2020) the total health expenditure across Latin American (LA) Countries in 2017 was 6.6 percent of GDP, which was less than the OECD countries (8.8 percent).  In Brazil, the health spending per capita was US$ 1280, which was bigger than the average of LA countries (US$ 1026) but much smaller compared with OECD countries (US$ 3994). The region had a medium of two doctors per 1,000 population, with Brazil below the OECD average of 3.5. During the pandemic, community actors, NGOs, and social leaders who know the reality of favelas and peripheries has been articulating and planning actions to solve local problems and construct initiatives with the state for the water supply, basic sanitation, health, and education. However, despite their evident importance for community life, these organizations have many difficulties in maintaining the operation of their activities. Therefore, supporting and establishing the work of community organizations is a necessary task, during and after the crisis.

The economic deterioration caused by the coronavirus pandemic has made evident the vulnerability of the Brazilian population. From those inserted in the formal labour market to those in the informal sector, each could easily fall into a situation of poverty in the face of income instability. Even though the impacts of the Emergency Aid (Auxílio Emergencial) on the country's social dynamics were immediate, there are still 52 million people considered poor, with a per capita household income of less than half the minimum wage monthly. Although Brazil has a long way to overcome poverty, the country has already part of the necessary and valuable tools to get there. There is the Cadastro Único, responsible for mapping the poor population, and the Unified Social Assistance System (Suas), which was created with the goal to decentralizing the country's social assistance policy until the municipality.

The federal and state governments have a role to support the most vulnerable population, but it is the municipalities and local governments that are more properly able to identify, according to the citizens’ living conditions, what lead these people into poverty.  The social inclusion should start in the local community due to each peculiarity of each region. Some may need cooperatives, training programs, labour intermediation, or credit. Thus, to be able to overcome poverty, the Brazilian government will have to go beyond cash transfers to lift millions out of the poverty line. For a well-defined social policy, Brazil needs to guarantee access to basic services and help with the inclusion of the poor population into the labour market. More than mitigating the country's current poverty situation with money from social programs, Brazil's main challenge is to overcome medium and long-term poverty.

It is essential to comprehend that COVID-19 is also a matter of social concern, the virus can infect everyone - so it may not discriminate who it will infect - but it discriminates when those who are infected do not have access to their basic needs. According to EPOCA (2020) considering those who had already die from COVID-19 in Brazil, when looking at the victims' colour, it was identified that 61 percent were brown and black, and brown and black population represents 54 percent of the Brazilians. In the North and Northeast, black and brown victims accounted for 86 percent and 82 percent respectively, and these regions are already known to be more economically precarious in the country.  When the most vulnerable population do not have access to public health and medication, when they cannot stay home, - due to the necessary income to support their families – the virus is discriminatory and it is exposing the vulnerabilities of the state’s policies and the need of new planning for social inclusion and sustainable development.

References  

BRASIL. (2010) Lei N. 12.288. [WWW document]. URL http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2007-2010/2010/Lei/L12288.htm [accessed 22 June 2020].

BRASIL. (2008) Pacto Nacional pelo Saneamento Básico: Mais Saúde, Qualidade de Vida e Cidadania. Resolução Recomendada N° 62, de 3 de Dezembro de 2008. [WWW document]. URL https://www. cidades.gov.br/images/stories/ArquivosSNSA/Arquivos_PDF/PACTO_-_ PLANSAB_-_20081216_Final_Internet.pdf [accessed 12 June 2020].

BRASIL (2005), Programa Universidade para Todos – PROUNI. [WWW document]. URL http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2004-2006/2005/lei/l11096.htm [accessed 22 June 2020].

Brauer, M.; Zhao, J. T,; Bennitt, F. B.,and Stanaway, J. D. (2020) ‘Global Access to Handwashing: Implications for COVID-19 Control in Low-Income Countries’. Environmental Health Perspectives 128:5.

EPOCA. (2020) Dados Do SUS Revelam Vítima-Padrão De Covid-19 No Brasil: Homem, Pobre E Negro. [WWW document]. URL https://epoca.globo.com/sociedade/dados-do-sus-revelam-vitima-padrao-de-covid-19-no-brasil-homem-pobre-negro-24513414 [accessed 4 July 2020].

IAS – INSTITUTO ÁGUA E SANEAMENTO. (2020) Saneamento 2020: Passado, Presente e Possibilidades de Futuro para o Brasil. [WWW document]. URL ISBN: 978-65-990908-0-6. Available in: https://www.aguaesaneamento.org.br/saneamento-2020/ [accessed 11 June 2020].

IBGE. (2016) Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios Contínua - PNAD Contínua 2016. [WWW document]. URL https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/sociais/populacao/9127-pesquisa-nacional-por-amostra-de-domicilios.html?=&t=o-que-e [accessed 2 July 2020].

IBGE. (2019) Síntese de Indicadores Sociais – SIS. [WWW document]. URL https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/sociais/populacao/9221-sintese-de-indicadores-sociais.html?=&t=o-que-e [accessed 2 July 2020].

OECD. (2020) ‘Health at a Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean 2020’. OECD Publishing, Paris. 

  Rocha, S. (2011) ‘The Brazilian Bolsa-Familia Program. Evolution and impacts on poverty’. Economia e Sociedade 20:1.

UNESCO, UN-Water. (2020) ‘United Nations World Water Development Report 2020’. UNESCO, Water and Climate Change, Paris.

UNICEF - Fundo das Nações Unidas para a Criança. (2018) Estudo Pobreza na Infância e na Adolescência. [WWW document]. URL https://www.unicef.org/brazil/media/156/ file/Pobreza_na_Infancia_e_na_Adolescencia.pdf [accessed 11 June 2020].       

World Health Organization (WHO). (‎2020)‎ Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public. [WWW document]. URL https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public [accessed 7 June 2020].

Refugees, Indigenous People, Transgenders and Prisoners : Latin American Governments’ Miscommunication with the Most Vulnerable Communities During COVID- 19

 By Marcelo Rodriguez and Victoria De La Torre

        In times of a pandemic, vital information becomes a matter of life and death. However, at a time when civilians need it the most, the overnight transformation of government information into a solely virtual presence has created a plethora of issues as well as even more obstacles to reach the most vulnerable communities. These insecurities have transformed any vital pandemic-related information emanating from the government into a minefield of contradictory, constantly-changing, and at times erroneous messaging. When it comes to vulnerable communities, feelings of mistrust and fear have exacerbated and exposed a pattern of insufficient resources and isolation. We have chosen to concentrate our research on four vulnerable communities in the region: Refugees, Indigenous, Transgender and Prisoners. From the perspective of these four vulnerable groups, we would like to highlight how the new virtual reality of exclusively online government information has left these groups stranded and isolated when they needed these government services the most.
         The pandemic has essentially halted all global, international migration as borders close, and workers return to their home countries. Over 120 countries have closed their borders all over the world citing Coronavirus as the primary reason, and only 30 of those countries currently accept asylum claims. Peru was home to some 865,000 Venezuelan migrants prior to COVID-19. A significant number of them has been returning home due to lack of work during Peru’s pandemic shutdown, which led to a 16.25% drop in GDP during the month of March alone. Venezuelan makeshift border quarantine facilities built along the border in small villages and communities to contain migrants and refugees are hotbeds for contamination and spreading illness. Hundreds of people and children are forced to stay for two weeks in these facilities without beds, clean water, or food beyond rice and lentils while endangering the civilians whose homes and schools have been commandeered.

Latin America’s waves of immigration are not solely composed of migrant workers attempting to return home, but it is also inclusive of those traveling as refugees because risking exposure to COVID-19 is less of a threat to their lives and families than staying home. Few cities, like Mexico City, consider registering asylum to be essential work and permit refugees within its borders despite the rate of applicants plummeting to below 90%. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi urges that “... securing public health and protecting refugees are not mutually exclusive.”

            Historically disenfranchised and in the margins of most Latin American societies, COVID-19 seriously threatens the very existence of indigenous groups throughout the region. The circumstances and problems facing these communities are known by the authorities, and they have been extensively studied. Lack of adequate health services, precarious sanitary conditions, lack of access to digital technology and discrimation in accessing government services are among the main problems aggravating any government’s response to the current COVID-19 pandemic in indigenous communities. Weaker immune systems and isolation have come to exacerbate an already fragile situation. Despite the fact that some indigenous communities have opted for even more isolation in order to avoid contagion, groups such as Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon Basin, Peru’s Amazon indigenous federation, Colombia’s national indigenous organization have called upon their respective national governments as well as international organizations to reach out to all groups with the vital information needed regarding the pandemic. A complete lack of coordination among national lockdowns, border closures and state of emergencies have made the situation untenable and counterproductive to any efforts to contain the virus anywhere. 

        On April 2, Peru, together with Panama, began restricting movement by gender. Women and men were allowed to leave their houses exclusively on the three days assigned to their gender. No one was allowed to leave their houses on Sundays. This gender-based restrictive policy proved to be controversial with the transgender community in Peru as well as creating a significant amount of confusion and chaos. On April 10, Peru canceled the controversial policy. However, as far as we know, Panama has continued its implementation, and since the end of April, Colombia’s capital city, Bogota has decided to implement a similar policy. These failed and discriminatory policies are unfortunately part of a pattern of transphobia which COVID-19 has exacerbated or has brought to everyone’s attention: lack of access to health care, harassment by the public as well as police forces, and fear to report any abuses. 

         When the remains of Victor Calderón’s son were returned to him after the Venezuelan prison riot that reportedly killed 47 inmates, the remains were numbered “128” suggesting a much higher, unknown death toll. The anarchy is said to have been provoked by abusive guards stealing food from inmates in addition to the deplorable, barbaric conditions the inmates are forced to endure. Prison riots are not out of the norm in Latin American countries, where power is often held by crime groups with the consent of the guards and wardens, and a high percentage of inmates are still awaiting trial without having received a conviction. While governments scramble to protect themselves from the Novel Coronavirus, prisoners are among the minority groups being forgotten. In response, riots have broken out in prisons across Peru where convicted politicians are being released to avoid the virus, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia, where the prisons have become the epicenter of the Covid outbreak. Over 580,000 detainees from 80 countries have been authorized for release, which is only 5% of the prisoners in those countries. Few of them have actually been released.

            In a matter of two weeks, numerous countries in Latin America and the Caribbean declared national lockdowns due to the unprecedented and challenging COVID-19 pandemic. Despite its differences, the many national lockdowns dramatically transformed all government communication and functions to exclusively virtual messaging within a matter of days. Given the abrupt change of communication format as well as the lack of preparedness and resources, governments in the region had to learn a new set of rules and dynamics which consequently have exacerbated issues of disinformation, lack of transparency, and accountability especially towards the most vulnerable communities. 

A AMAZÔNIA ARRASADA ENFRENTA O COVID-19

 Por Mônica Dias Martins e Bernardo Mançano Fernandes 

I.                     

Durante a pandemia que assola o planeta, a Amazônia com uma extensão de 7 milhões de quilômetros quadrados, abrangendo territórios de 9 países, sofre uma nova ofensiva capitalista, neocolonialista e etnocida respaldada pela cumplicidade ou inércia dos governantes. 

Os povos da floresta persistem sendo submetidos à violência do genocídio cultural e físico por parte de grandes empresas agropecuárias e extrativistas (madeireiras e mineradoras), em especial os povos isolados. A devastação ambiental ameaça diretamente o modo de vida das populações indígenas que ao perder seu entorno natural veem desaparecer suas fontes de alimentação, têm suas águas contaminadas, perdem seus espaços de convívio social e religioso. Desde sempre o contato com o “homem branco” encontra corpos fortes e sadios, mas despreparados para reagir às enfermidades da “civilização ocidental”.                                                                                                                     

Os problemas ambientais e sociais são gigantescos e há resistências, sendo notável o surgimento de uma gama variada e crescente de militantes e cientistas indígenas. O modo de gestão territorial indígena e a ideia de florestania (em contraposição à cidadania) são duas importantes contribuições ao reivindicar um lugar na sociedade sem renunciar a sua identidade indígena.

II

No Brasil, país que concentra a maior parte do território e da população da Amazônia, aumentam assustadoramente os casos de pessoas infectadas e de mortes pelo COVI-19, apesar de não se dispor de estatísticas oficiais confiáveis devido à subnotificação e ao ocultamento de dados por parte das instituições públicas, a exemplo da Secretaria Especial de Saúde Indígena e da Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI). A situação é agravada com o desmonte do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) e o fim do Programa Mais Médicos (novembro de 2018), que contou com ajuda de 8.600 médicos cubanos em 3.600 municípios atendendo cerca de 113,3 milhões de pacientes nas localidades mais inóspitas do país.  É notória a negação pelo atual presidente brasileiro da seriedade da pandemia, dificultando medidas rápidas e eficazes para seu enfrentamento, particularmente para proteção daquelas pessoas em situação de risco e vulnerabilidade.  

A tragédia que se anuncia para as próximas semanas afeta tanto os indígenas que vivem nas aldeias quanto os que habitam as áreas urbanas das grandes cidades da região. Estima-se que sejam cerca de quase um milhão de pessoas, em sua maioria morando em zonas rurais afastadas e que não tem recebido o devido tratamento do Estado brasileiro. Considerando que grande parte das terras indígenas ainda não foram demarcadas (237 processos aguardam homologação), a insegurança é ainda mais gritante. O isolamento social não preocupa aos que praticam impunemente ações ilegais na região amazônica, se aproveitando da falta de fiscalização e de uma gestão político-administrativa favorável à legalização da grilagem de terras, ao desmatamento e aos empreendimentos multinacionais.  

III

Está na Amazônia a maioria das terras indígenas em situação crítica para a pandemia do COVID-19. Estudo realizado pela Associação Brasileira de Estudos Populacionais (ABEP) mostra que das 471 terras indígenas avaliadas, 239 apresentam índices de vulnerabilidade intensos ou altos, com base em fatores como a distância de centros com unidades de terapia intensiva, saneamento e porcentagem de idosos na população, entre outros.                                                                       

O relato de alguns casos permite tirar do anonimato algumas vítimas do Covid-19, como o do jovem Yanomami de 15 anos, natural da aldeia Rehebe, em Roraima; o de uma mulher da etnia Borari, de 87 anos, em Alter do Chão, Santarém (PA);  o de um homem de 55 anos, do povo Mura, em Manaus (AM). Chama atenção, ainda, a recente morte (28.04) de um professor, músico e compositor Tikuna, uma das etnias mais populosas do Brasil, enterrado em vala coletiva na cidade de Manaus sob protestos da comunidade Wotchimaücü, da qual era vice cacique.                                    

Em um contexto neoliberal de corte de gastos públicos, o sistema de saúde se encontra com sua capacidade limitada e há uma carência de leitos de UTI, o que diminui a possibilidade de atendimento a pessoas, normalmente desassistidas, mesmo agora estando contaminadas com o coronavírus. Diante deste triste quadro, os indígenas veem tomando iniciativas para evitar o vírus, seja mediante bloqueio por conta própria do acesso às aldeias, seja por meio da Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil para envio de carta aos governadores reivindicando planos emergenciais, seja pressionando a Frente Parlamentar Mista em Defesa dos Direitos dos Povos Indígenas.

 

Membros do Comitê Diretor do Conselho Latino-americano de Ciências Sociais (CLACSO)

Mônica Dias Martins                                                                                                                                Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociologia, Universidade Estadual de Ceará – PPGS/UECE, Brasil

 

Bernardo Mançano Fernandes 
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia, Universidade Estadual Paulista – PPGG/UNESP, Brasil

 

The Shadow Pandemic

 By Amy Risley

In June 2020, the World Health Organization identified Latin America as an epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sadly, the region now risks becoming an epicenter of the “Shadow Pandemic,” the global surge in gender-based violence (UN Women 2020a). In Latin America, an estimated 20 million women and girls experience sexual and physical abuse each year. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, at least 3,529 women were victims of femicide in 2018 (Fumega 2020). Available data suggest a substantial increase in physical and sexual intimate partner violence across the region during the pandemic. 

Notwithstanding this spike, the structural, institutional, and cultural forces that create a permissive environment for such violence predate the arrival of coronavirus. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Central America and Mexico, where women activists and human rights defenders are insisting that the “crisis was already here” when the pandemic hit (IM-Defensoras 2020). Communities were already reeling from simultaneous social and political crises, militarized policing, and state-sponsored repression and criminal violence targeting activists who defend the environment and the rights of women, LGBTQ, indigenous, Afro-indigenous, and other communities. Neoliberal economic policies had exacerbated inequalities and undermined public health systems. This state of affairs underscores the need for feminist, intersectional research that examines how gender, class, ethnicity, race, and sexuality have shaped individuals’ experiences during the pandemic. 

Feminist researchers often search out seemingly “private” spaces, including the home, because they recognize that power is created and wielded, and legitimized there. Seven out of ten femicides in Argentina are committed in the victim’s home; the number is a tragic reminder that home can hardly be considered as a “refuge” for women (Fumega 2020). Confinement at home can be a necessary, life-saving measure during the pandemic, yet it also exacerbates the risk factors associated with gender-based violence. Not only are survivors in close quarters with their abusers; they are potentially cut off from crucial forms of support. These can include services provided by state agencies and non-governmental organizations as well as informal support networks comprising friends and family (UN Women 2020b). Offices close, and resources are diverted from support services to immediate COVID-19 relief (UN Women 2020a). 

In addition, confinement is creating economic pressures and exacerbating underlying risk factors associated with gender-based violence, such as unemployment, underemployment, and poverty. Pandemics may fuel harassment of and violence against female healthcare workers, migrant laborers, and domestic workers and heighten the risk of xenophobic violence. Women and girls with disabilities are sometimes subjected to sexual violence at greater rates. Individuals experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that make them especially vulnerable (UN Women 2020b). Consider, moreover, the gendered roles of the “dutiful” wife, mother, and/or daughter and the added responsibilities that caregivers assume within their families and community during a pandemic. As the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund observes, the crisis “is compounding the no longer subterranean disparities that affect millions of women and girls” (Ford 2020).

Latin America is not immune from these global trends. Peru’s Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations reported higher numbers of gender violence cases following the implementation of quarantine (LAND 2020a). In July, the Ministry informed the public that 2,457 women had gone missing in the country during the lockdown; included in that figure were 1,720 minors. The authorities hastily added that many had already returned home, and they were working with some 400 local women’s emergency centers to locate the others (LAND 2020b). In Brazil’s state of São Paulo, cases of violence against women in which police were dispatched jumped 45 percent in March compared to the previous year (Sigal et al. 2020). In El Salvador, reports of violence against women rose 70 percent between March 17 and May 22 relative to 2019 (IM-Defensoras 2020). In Colombia, the government reported a 130 percent surge in call volume to a national women’s helpline for domestic violence in the first 18 days of quarantine (Sigal et al. 2020). Similarly, in Argentina, calls to domestic violence helplines grew 40 percent after the government implemented quarantine (Fumega 2020). The Chilean government likewise observed that calls to domestic abuse helplines increased 70 percent in the first weekend of quarantine alone (Sigal et al. 2020). 

The region has experienced unbearable increases in numbers of female murder victims. According to the Mexican government, murders of women committed in the first six months of 2020 rose 9.2 percent vis-à-vis the first half of 2019 (Associated Press 2020). As of April 13, “more women had been murdered (367) than had died due to COVID-19 (100) since the country’s first confirmed coronavirus case on February 28” (Prusa, García Nice and Soledad 2020). In Venezuela, femicides increased by 65 percent in April 2020 compared to April 2019 (International Rescue Committee 2020). Similarly, femicides in six Brazilian states increased 56 percent in March relative to the same period the previous year; in Argentina, 49 femicides were committed between March 20 and May 10 (Prusa, García Nice, and Soledad 2020). A shocking 83 femicides were documented in Honduras (IM-Defensoras 2020). 

Women in Mexico and Central America have assisted survivors of gender violence, organized feminist mutual care networks at the grassroots, mobilized relief efforts to deliver food, supplies, and health care to communities, denounced human rights violations, and participated in protests (IM-Defensoras 2020). The authorities have detained politically active women for violating quarantine, prompting concerns that such measures are being used as a pretext to stifle activism. In El Salvador, for example, police detained a member of the Network of Mesoamerican Women in Resistance while she was on her way to buy medicine for her three-year-old, hospitalized son. She was held for more than 30 days in unsanitary conditions; she was not provided a mask, hand sanitizer, or medicine for her diabetes (IM-Defensoras 2020). 

In conclusion, Latin Americans were already enduring multiple and intersecting forms of gender-based violence when the coronavirus arrived. The violence has intensified since the outbreak. Is there a way out of the shadow pandemic? Most of the region’s governments have already enacted legal, policing, and relief measures designed to assist survivors of gender-based violence during COVID-19. Legal reforms have eased the prosecution of offenders (LAND 2020a). Although stepped-up responses are certainly necessary, feminist public health models extend well beyond individual-level, criminal justice interventions and short-term relief. Feminists also tackle the root causes of violence. We interrogate neoliberalism and the political economy of women’s (re)domestication and relegation to the private sphere. We continually reckon with the crushing inequalities that are literally matters of life or death, even in the absence of a pandemic. Feminist analyses, moreover, challenge militarization and authoritarianism while drawing connections between domestic and state-sponsored forms of violence. It was Chilean feminists who famously demanded “democracy in the home and in the country” in the final years of the country’s military dictatorship. Their words still resonate today. 

Amy E. Risley is a Professor of International Studies at Rhodes College

References:

Associated Press. 2020. “In Mexico, women's murders have spiked during coronavirus pandemic.” (July 21). Accessed July 2020.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mexico-women-s-murders-have-spiked-during-coronavirus-pandemic-n1234451

Ford, Liz. 2020. “'Calamitous': domestic violence set to soar by 20% during global lockdown.” The Guardian, April 28. Accessed July 2020.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/apr/28/calamitous-domestic-violence-set-to-soar-by-20-during-global-lockdown-coronavirus

Fumega, Silvana. 2020. “Tracking Latin America’s Other Pandemic: Violence Against Women.” Americas Quarterly, April 13. Accessed July 2020.

https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/tracking-latin-americas-other-pandemic-violence-against-women/

IM-Defensoras (Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Humanos). 2020. “La Crisis Ya Estaba Aquí.: Defensoras mesoamericanas ante COVID-19.” Accessed July 2020.

http://im-defensoras.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/La-crisis-ya-estaba-aqu%C3%AD-10062020.pdf

International Rescue Committee. 2020. “IRC data shows an increase in reports of gender-based violence across Latin America.” (June 9). Accessed July 2020.

 https://www.rescue.org/press-release/irc-data-shows-increase-reports-gender-based-violence-across-latin-america

LAND (Latin America News Dispatch). 2020a. Today in Latin America, April 30. Accessed July 2020. https://latindispatch.com/

LAND. 2020b. Today in Latin America, July 16. Accessed July 2020. https://latindispatch.com/

Prusa, Anya, Beatriz García Nice and Olivia Soledad. 2020. “Pandemic of Violence: Protecting Women during COVID-19.” Wilson Center, May 15. Accessed July 2020. 

dhttps://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/pandemic-violence-protecting-women-during-covid-19

Sigal, Lucila et al. 2020. “Another pandemic': In Latin America, domestic abuse rises amid lockdown.” Reuters, April 27. Accessed July 2020.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-latam-domesticviol/another-pandemic-in-latin-america-domestic-abuse-rises-amid-lockdown-idUSKCN2291JS

UN Women. 2020a. “The Shadow Pandemic: Violence against women during COVID-19.” Accessed July 2020.

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/in-focus-gender-equality-in-covid-19-response/violence-against-women-during-covid-19

UN Women. 2020b. “Violence against women and girls: Data collection during COVID-19” (April 17). Accessed July 2020. https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2020/vawg-data-collection-during-covid-19-compressed.pdf?la=en&vs=2339