MADRID – In Spain, 43 women have died this year as a result of domestic violence. This is the lowest number since registration in 2003. However at the same time, the number of children who have died as a result of gender violence has doubled.
In 2020, gender violence cost the lives of 3 minors, this year there were 6 fatalities. With the death of 43 women in 2021, 30 children now have no mothers. Coalition parties PSOE and Unidas Podemos want to definitively implement the Integral Act against Gender Violence in the coming year. This law imposes higher sentences on perpetrators and better regulates the interests of victims of gender violence. The official name will be Ley Integral contra la Violencia de Género..
In 2020, 47 women died as a result of domestic violence; that was 4 more than this year. In 2010, the blackest year in terms of gender violence in Spain, there were no fewer than 73 fatalities. Of the 43 women died in 2021, 26 lived with the perpetrator and 21 were in a relationship with their aggressor. Most of the women were between 31 and 40 years old and had Spanish nationality.
9 women reported gender violence
9 of the fatalities had already reported domestic violence and several women had also asked official authorities for help. In May of this year 2 women reported assault and were subsequently killed by their partner in a short period. Therefore, Minister Irene Montero of Emancipation concluded a pact. The goal of this pact was to reflect on this serious social problem. All parties, except Vox, signed an agreement on the approach at the end of November.
Helpline 016 for all victims of gender violence
Earlier this year, in March, the Montero Department expanded the 016 helplines for victims of gender violence. This helpline is for victims of domestic violence and for anyone who is involved in any way with sexual violence or sexual harassment. The number of times people requested help via 016 rose by 61 percent compared to a month earlier.
More targeted government policy
The Ministry of Emancipation wants to register all cases of gender violence per category from 2022, to better differentiate the policy against this violence and thus be able to intervene in a more targeted manner. For example, authorities make a distinction between domestic violence, violence within families, sexual violence in the social circle, and so-called replacement violence. Substitute violence means that it is not the woman herself who is physically a victim, but one of her loved ones – often her children – to punish her even harder.
With this method of registration, Spain would be the first European country where authorities officially register gender violence according to the nature of the violence. In the coming year, all autonomous regions must also draw up a plan for opening a 24-hour crisis service for victims of sexual violence. By 2023 at the latest, all provinces must have at least one active 24-hour crisis service line.
