Domestic violence and suicides among minors registered record numbers in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Mexico reported on Thursday, August 19th.
“The confinement conditions, mobility restrictions, and the suspension of classes have seriously affected the girls and boys of our country,” said Alejandro Encinas, undersecretary of Human Rights, Population, and Migration.
The official presented a study carried out in coordination with different federal agencies in which the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents was evaluated.
Encinas highlighted that from March to June 2021, historical figures have been registered in this crime.
According to the study, in the first semester of 2021, 129,020 investigation folders for family violence were opened. This represented a 24 percent increase over the same period last year.
In that sense, 75.7 percent of the injuries due to violence occurred at home.
Suicides
In 2020, 1,150 suicides of girls and boys were reported. A record number.
“With this, the suicide rate in girls, boys, and adolescents increased by 12 percent, from 4.63 percent to 5.18 percent between 2019 and 2020, reaching its historical maximum,” said Encinas.
Suicides of girls and boys between 10 and 14 years old increased by 37 percent and 12 percent in adolescent women between 15 and 19 years old.
Likewise, suicidal thinking in adolescents increased from 5.1 percent to 6.9 percent from 2018 to 2020, according to the study.
On the other hand, suicidal behavior in teenagers increased from 3.9 percent to 6.0 percent.
Homicides
In 2020, homicide was the third leading cause of death for boys and the sixth for girls between the ages of 1 and 14.
Meanwhile, suicide was the leading cause of death in male adolescents between 15 and 17 years old, the undersecretary explained.
Source: El Financiero
