Forced migrant survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) face increasingly serious problems – some life-threatening – as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and associated restrictions, a new study reveals.

Researchers found COVID-19’s impact on these people – largely women – and organisations supporting them in the UK, Turkey, Tunisia, Sweden and Australia creates difficulties in daily life that also increase their vulnerability to further abuse and exploitation.



And they are now calling on governments and service providers to take immediate action that ensures forced migrant survivors of SGBV stay as safe as possible during the immediate crisis and beyond.

Experts at the University of Birmingham’s Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) – working with Refugee Women Connect – have published their findings in a new report, noting that:

Some SGBV survivors are locked down with perpetrators with no access to shelters or advice organisations – enduring abuse and targeted by traffickers or pressured to agree to child marriage.

· Without distractions while in social isolation, women are reliving abuse episodes – increasing anxiety levels, sleep problems and generating thoughts of committing suicide.



· Without the means to access online support services, women who were moving forward with their lives now feel themselves slipping backwards – with some destitute and relying on the generosity of neighbours themselves struggling.

· Having insufficient funds to buy foods and hygiene products as prices rose but social welfare and other forms of support remained static or even ceased.