The Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 1: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. The constitutions of nations supposedly aim first and foremost at preserving human dignity. This is normative. But as can be seen in any period of history, the reality is very different. This is not different today, despite all the progress that has been made.We live in an unjust and stratified world; not everyone is treated equally. Respect for the inherent dignity of human beings would mean that vital resources, such as access to material resources, but also health care and education, would not be unequally distributed. Not only are resources and developmental means unfairly distributed, even the honor of life is unequally assigned. It appears some lives matter less than others. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing social inequities and also revealed in many ways the extent to which human dignity is compromised with little awareness that dignity is essentially a relational reality: “Human dignity is the same for all human beings: when I trample on the dignity of another, I am trampling on my own”.1
The COVID-19 pandemic is therefore probably the most comprehensive and complex challenge to human dignity and care, especially for vulnerable persons, that the world’s population has faced since the end of World War II. The impact on people in all, or almost all, countries of the world has been and continues to be manifold, persistent, and drastic. What is remarkable about this pandemic is that the entire population has been and continues to be affected, albeit to unequal degrees and in varying quality: young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural, all occupations, and people of every walk of life.
As far as the risk of COVID-19 infection and subsequent severe disease progression is concerned, the figures known so far for the younger population groups – and especially for young children – indicate a much lower susceptibility. On the other hand, the highest risk of disease, in addition to people with pre-existing conditions, is diagnosed in the elderly.The subject of this paper is not first of all the immediate consequences for health, but the indirect and medium- and long-term consequences of protective measures and official orders on the dignity and care of children and adolescents. This is done in the knowledge that this account cannot represent all facets of the ever-evolving pandemic, nor the global dimension of its impact.
1. Abuse and maltreatment of children and adolescents
What children experience during the coronavirus crisis can have a profound impact on them. How well or poorly they cope depends on the context in which they experience the pandemic. The difference is enormous depending on whether children experience this time in a stable or a broken household, whether they live in a house with a garden or in a prefabricated apartment, whether they are only children or grow up with siblings, whether they are in online contact with friends and teachers, or whether this is not possible for various reasons.2 But beyond these generally effective factors, children and young people are at increased risk of being mistreated and abused in times of spatial and personal isolation.
Millions of children around the world are victims of neglect, psychological cruelty, physical abuse, and sexual violence every year – at home, in their social context and online.3 The fear is that COVID-19 has unleashed unprecedented levels of abuse and mistreatment, trapping children at home with their abusers, and driving the problem underground or into invisibility.4
Empirical data collected and analyzed in recent months reflect a hidden pandemic, the pandemic of abuse against children and adolescents.5 While there have been fewer reports of child abuse at times – especially at the moment of the first massive lockdowns – experts believe this is due in part to the fact that victims have been unable to encounter, or have encountered only very sporadically, those adults in their lives whose professional mandate is to care for the welfare of children: physicians,6 teachers, child protective services, and other welfare officials who might recognize those signs that indicate forms of violence are being used.7 Cases of serious child abuse reported by emergency room physicians and pediatricians are on the rise,8 as well as reports of children calling abuse hotlines themselves.9
2. Impact of school closures
Measures taken by governments to contain the spread of the virus have been based primarily on quarantine and social distancing or distancing: Billions of people have been told to stay home, with dramatic economic, social, and psychological consequences.10 By mid-April 2020 alone – just a few months into the pandemic – 188 countries had already imposed nationwide school closures, affecting more than 1.5 billion children and adolescents.11 These kindergarten12 and school closures,13 or severe restrictions and regulations of local school operations, have led to an interruption and severe disturbance of the daily lives of children and young people. Despite attempts at a slow reopening, it soon became clear that it would be impossible to conduct normal regular classroom instruction for entire school or academic years. Thus, the future of education of young people is left in uncertainty.14 This is dramatic, with the consequences of school closures in other parts of the world reaching almost existential dimensions.15 The potential impact of the loss of education and training opportunities for the younger generation – consequently, on their future prospects – is difficult to gauge.16 To minimize these losses, schools have offered virtual distance learning to their students. However, this option is not available to all children, even in economically developed countries. Children who were already potentially disadvantaged before the crisis – who come from poorer households and/or lack the appropriate language skills – will fall even further behind. This is especially true for children with certain learning disabilities or other special education needs.
School closures and the impracticality of activities outside the home are also a challenge for parents who must care for their children (with or without a full-time job) and try to keep them occupied and help them learn.17 In addition, families have had to stay at home in sometimes cramped and confined spaces without being able to count on external social support. Children and their parents have had to do without the support of important groups of people such as grandparents, other family members and friends. Grandparents or members of an extended family or members of village communities often play a critical role in family care and childcare, especially when parents work full-time. Layoffs due to business closures, long-term short-time work, isolation from normal social contacts, severe curfews, and concerns about physical and mental health and financial future:18 the fears associated with all this are possible risk factors for the increase of domestic violence, abuse and exploitation of children, especially in pre-existing tense living conditions and precarious social circumstances.19 Violent acts are more likely when families are virtually locked up at home and they suffer from severe stress and anxiety.20
3. Helpful aspects and risk factors of social media use in times of lockdown
Digital communication technologies have played a crucial role in everyone’s lives in recent months – especially children. First, they were employed to ensure continuity of learning during school closures by providing learning resources and lessons or contact with teachers online.
Second, social media platforms and online games gave children and adolescents the opportunity to maintain relationships with their friends. On the other hand, they were increasingly exposed to the risk of “oversharing”, i.e., the uncontrolled and inappropriate disclosure of private information and intimate content.21 Add to this increased screen time, meaning the time children spend online increases the risk of falling into the hands of criminals.22 Child sexual abuse livestreams increased.23 Pedocriminals have discussed on the dark web how they can exploit curfews to produce and distribute more child sexual abuse material.24 Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC) case reports to the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) cyber tip line doubled compared to prior year periods.25
4. Psychological consequences of the lockdown on children and adolescents
Experts were quick to point out the risk of negative psychological effects of the lockdown and pandemic on children and adolescents, with age and factors such as emotional and relational stability of the immediate environment playing a major role.26
Children respond to stress in a variety of ways: sleep disturbances or difficulty falling asleep, bedwetting, stomach-aches or headaches, anxiousness, withdrawal, anger, clinginess, or fear of being left alone. Adolescents may experience loneliness, sadness, depressive symptoms, anxiety, frustration, and anger. They may lose their sense of control, belonging, and connection.
The first scientifically validated evidence of the negative impact of prolonged quarantine on children’s lives comes from a study of the situation in Italy and Spain, the two European countries that were particularly hard hit by the pandemic.27 This study evidences a deterioration in emotional state and behavior, especially through concentration difficulties and of feelings such as boredom, irritability and loneliness. However, Spanish children seem to have been more affected than their Italian peers. According to the authors, this may be due to the fact that, when the study was conducted, Italian children had already been allowed short walks around the house, while in Spain this was not yet possible.
Quarantine hits particularly hard young people who had previously suffered from severe mental illnesses, such as autism spectrum disorders, psychoses or severe anxiety disorders.
Children, especially those with pre-existing abnormalities and people suffering from mental disorders, need special support to deal with a fragile and unmanageable situation and to be able to withstand and channel the negative feelings that arise. For these individuals, the loneliness and lack of routine jeopardize their well-being and worsen their overall condition. Because of the temporary closure or curtailment of local support and assistance services, in most cases the necessary therapeutic interventions cannot be offered to this population group, which is particularly dependent on them. Even where attempts have been made to continue to offer support through online services, the elimination of face-to-face, on-site encounters does not provide for most the experience of care and attention they need.
5. The spiritual search
Loneliness is a significant psychological factor that negatively impacts a person’s mental health and well-being and can lead to anxiety, depression, and increased suicidality. Deteriorating health or death of partners and friends gets in the way of maintaining a vibrant social circle with many and frequent encounters.The COVID-19 crisis has abruptly increased this always-and-everywhere hardship for many people. Whether they were left alone at home for the above reasons, or forced to remain in strictly segregated infectious wards or hospitals for several weeks or months, the unanticipated and extensive isolation was experienced by many as dramatic, distressing, and unsettling. The associated fear, uncertainty, cognitive dysfunction, and general dissatisfaction exacerbate serious physical symptoms such as heart disease and the like, and can lead to increased mortality rates, especially among the elderly, but not only among them.
It was even more astonishing that during the lockdown convincing answers and creative solutions from church bodies – parishes, dioceses, associations, etc. – on how to deal with these existential and spiritual challenges were lacking. This is all the more regrettable because children and young people were thus not given the opportunity to deal personally and spiritually with an unusual and challenging situation. It would have been a great opportunity to promote the spirituality of children by helping them to interpret the reality around them in a constructive way, to learn to deal with the losses they have suffered in relationships, the death of relatives and much more, and to cope with the uncertainty about their future. From a religious and spiritual perspective, the reference to finding the right priorities in life would have offered much potential.
6. Some concrete proposals for care and for protection of dignity
Humanity will have to live with the effects of COVID-19 in the years to come, and measures must be taken to protect children and youth – as well as other groups such as the disabled, the elderly, the mentally ill, and the homeless – from the negative mental and physiological consequences of lockdown, while doing whatever is necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19. Some specific measures include the following:28
- strengthening children’s resilience and nurturing their social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing by building safe spaces where they can feel seen and heard, share their emotions;
- exchanging their experiences and learning from one another how to replace time spent online or watching TV with other attractive healthy activities;
- interacting with their colleagues and their families in a positive way, with gratitude, appreciation, compassion, kindness;
- giving correct information about the COVID-19 pandemic and preventive measures;
- providing age-appropriate facts about what has happened, explaining what could happen in a reassuring way;
- giving them clear examples of what they can do to help protect themselves and others from infection;
- awareness campaigns, hotlines, and other services for children at risk of violence in their home or cyberbullying and online sexual exploitation;
- offering/suggesting safe e-learning environments.
- furthermore, some suggestions about what needs to be done at the political and societal level:
- raising awareness about increasing levels of violence against children in times of crisis and lockdown;
- helping create healthy, nurturing and safe environments for children during confinement, including online safety;
- supporting parents to nurture ethical values and spirituality in children within the family and in places of shelter.
7. Conclusion
The manifold tensions arising from this – including the liberties of individuals versus concern for the well-being of the population as a whole; economic damage versus health risks – have led to a discussion about the meaningfulness and extent of the lockdown measures. For example, in the wake of contact restrictions, there has been talk of “collateral damage”, especially for at-risk groups such as the mentally ill, children and adolescents, and senior citizens, because of the potentially traumatizing effects. Experts expect a significant increase in post-traumatic stress disorders.29 Thus, one possible consequence of this pandemic is a higher incidence of psychosis, violence, divorce, and suicide. The question of whether the measures taken against the pandemic have a greater impact on mental health than the threat posed by COVID-19 itself will probably not be adequately discussed until some time has passed.
The current crisis, which we will be dealing with for years to come, will almost certainly lead to a reduction in the resources allocated by the government and other institutions to address abuse and maltreatment, as child protection has moved down the priority list. The temptation to weaken the commitment to safeguarding children and young people – and mutatis mutandis to vulnerable adults – because of other needs and imperatives perceived as more pressing will be very great.This will put us in a situation not unlike that observed in other parts of the world, where existential emergencies such as war, famine, natural disasters, and the like have captured everyone’s attention. If issues such as health and the economic consequences of lockdown are now such a central focus even in economically well-off countries, then even in countries where there is a relatively high standard of protection from sexualized and other violence, it is to be expected that the focus will be diverted from child protection and a serious discussion about ways of safeguarding will be pushed aside.30 In a sense, then, the difficult economic and public health situation provides another weighty reason to push the unpleasant topic of child abuse even further away. Without adequate funding for prevention, intervention, legal aid, and treatment services, psychologists, social workers, and others cannot effectively protect children in the midst of this national and international crisis. The inclination will be to cut back or reallocate appropriate resources.
This is all the more pernicious because, in times of lockdown, the risks are significantly greater that protected children of all ages will become victims of forms of violence. Because these assaults and offenses take place behind closed doors, the marks of abuse (physical bruises or fractures, as well as trauma, shame, and other long-term consequences associated with sexual abuse) will not become apparent until later – in most cases, much later...
It is essential to keep the dignity of young people in mind when developing ways to change everyday life and when offering strategies for caring and dealing with stressful and potentially traumatic situations. One of the first goals should be to develop sustained research to understand this complex situation more fully and better assess the potential correlates with mental health and social well-being. Among the basic findings of the responses to the coronavirus should be that special attention be paid to mental, social, and spiritual well-being, not only but especially with regard to those groups of people who have been the subject of our consideration: children and youth. For this to happen, policy makers would need to be offered evidence-based programs so that the medium- and long-term psychological effects of a pandemic can also be taken into account in the democratic decision-making process when implementing the necessary health and safety measures. Only in this way will it be possible to protect and preserve the dignity of the younger generations in our care.
1 Pope Francis, “Message of Pope Francis for the Lenten Brotherhood Campaign in Brazil” (25 February 2014).
2 Eva Oberle, Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl & Kimberly C. Thomson, “Understanding the link between social and emotional well-being and peer relations in early adolescence: gender-specific predictors of peer acceptance”, Journal of Youth and Adolescence 39 (2010): 1330-1342, doi: 10.1007/s10964-009-9486-9.
3 UNICEF et al., “COVID-19 and its implications for protecting children online” (April 2020).
4 BBC, “Coronavirus: what lockdown is like for kids all around the world” (16 April 2020),.
5 UNESCO, “Education: from school closure to recovery” (2020).
6 Jörg M. Fegert, Laura A. Kehoe, Benedetto Vitiello, Andreas Karwautz, Stephan Eliez, Jean-Philippe Raynaud et al., “COVID-19: services must remain active, we must communicate with networking partners and avoid further closure of psychiatric units” (9 April 2020).
7 The Guardian, “Lockdowns around the world bring rise in domestic violence” (2020).
8 The Washington Post, “With kids stuck at home, ER doctors see more severe cases of child abuse” (30 April 2020).
9 RAINN, “For the First Time Ever, Minors Make Up Half of Visitors to National Sexual Assault Hotline” (2020).
10 Samantha K. Brooks, Rebecca K. Webster, Louise E. Smith, Lisa Woodland, Simon Wessely, Neil Greenberg et al., “The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence”, Lancet 395 (March 2020): 912-920, doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8.
11 UNICEF, “Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on children” (15 April 2020).
12 Domradio, “Traum oder Trauma?” (13 September 2020).
13 Russell M. Viner, Simon J. Russell, Helen Croker, Jessica Packer, Joseph Ward, Claire Stansfield et al., “School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review”, Lancet 4 (May 2020): 397-404, doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30095-X.
14 Spiegel Panorama, “Lernen fällt flach” (5 August 2020).
15 World Food Programme, “Futures of 370 million children in jeopardy as school closures deprive them of school meals – UNICEF and WFP” (29 April 2020).
16 Spiegel Panorama, “Für die Kinder in unserem Land wird gute Bildung zum Lotteriespiel” (24 August 2020).
17 Jörg M. Fegert, Benedetto Vitiello, Paul L. Plener, Vera Clemens, “Challenges and burden of the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic for child and adolescent mental health: a narrative review to highlight clinical and research needs in the acute phase and the long return to normality”, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 14 (2020): 20, doi:10.1186/s13034-020-00329-3.
18 Danny Horesh and Adam D Brown, “Traumatic stress in the age of COVID-19: a call to close critical gaps and adapt to new realities”, Psychol Trauma 12, 4 (May 2020): 331-335, doi: 10.1037/tra0000592.
19 United Nations, “UN chief calls for domestic violence ‘ceasefire’ amid ‘horrifying global surge’” (6 April 2020); and UNICEF, “Childcare in a Global Crisis” (2020); and UNICEF, “Worlds of influence” (2020).
20 Medical NewsToday, “‘Lessons never learned’ – How COVID-19 affects domestic violence rates” (24 April 2020).
21 Europol, “Catching the virus cybercrime, disinformation and the COVID-19 pandemic” (3 April 2020).
22 Europol, “Pandemic profiteering: how criminals exploit the COVID-19 crisis” (6 December 2021).
23 NPR, “Child Sex Abuse Livestreams Increase During Coronavirus Lockdowns” (8 April 2020).
24 Forbes, “Child Exploitation Complaints Rise 106% To Hit 2 Million In Just One Month: Is COVID-19 To Blame?” (24 April 2020); and The Guardian, “Child abuse predator ‘handbook’ lists ways to target children during coronavirus lockdown” (13 May 2020).
25 Forbes, “Online Child Abuse Complaints Surpass 4 Million In April. This Is How Cops Are Coping Despite COVID-19” (9 May 2020).
26 European Society for Child Adolescent Psychiatry, “Dealing with children and adolescent mental health during the Coronavirus pandemic” (2020).
27 Mireia Orgilés, Alexandra Morales, Elisa Delveccio, Claudia Mazzeschi and José P. Espada, “Immediate psychological effects of the COVID-19 quarantine in youth from Italy and Spain” (18 April 2020).
28 Cf. also UNICEF, “6 ways parents can support their kids through the COVID-19 outbreak” (24 August 2020); and UNICEF, “How teachers can talk to children about coronavirus disease (COVID-19)” (8 September 2020).
29 Rhein Neckar Zeitung, “Trauma-Expertin erwartet mehr posttraumatische Belastungsstörungen” (16 May 2020).
30 DirkWitteveen and EvaVelthorst, “Economic hardship and mental health complaints during COVID-19”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, 44 (November 2020): 27277–27284, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2009609117.