Fewer reports of domestic violence and child abuse were made in the first six months of this year, compared with 2020, new figures by statistics agency CBS show.

Veilig Thuis, the national support organisation for victims of domestic violence, received almost 61,000 reports this year, a drop of 6% on 2020, the CBS said.

Two thirds of reports of domestic violence came in via the police. Some 26% originated with professionals, such as doctors, teachers and youth care organisations, while 10% of reports were made by private citizens.

The organisations were contacted some 67,000 times for advice, up 15% from the year before. Just over half of the requests were made by health officials while 45% came from concerned private citizens.

Just over half of the reports and consultations concerned (suspicions of) child abuse. Some 37% of the reports were of violence by (ex) partners.

Research into the effects of Coronavirus by global NGO Kids Rights Foundation has shown that child abuse intensified during the first lockdown in the Netherlands in spring 2020.

That research showed the number of victims of emotional neglect (including neglect of education and the witnessing of domestic violence) went up ‘significantly’.