Coronavirus (COVID-19): domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls during Phase 3 of Scotland's route map (11 August – 11 October)

14. Honour based violence and extended family abuse

Consistent with previous Phases within Scotland's route map, specialist BME organisations observed decreased referrals for BME women living in situation of enforced servitude and extended family abuse. Specialist organisations noted that they had a number of female clients engaged in the service prior to the start of the Coronavirus crisis, who were experiencing enforced servitude and some forms of honour based violence from in-laws. These numbers have decreased significantly throughout the period of lockdown and subsequent Phases, suggesting women were unable to make contact due to stricter controls on their freedoms caused by more family members being within the house rather than at work (due to redundancy, furlough and/or the increases in people working from home) and less time away from their perpetrators. In particular, services noted the numbers had decreased for women who had insecure immigration status.