The first was called Rebekah Alexandra Cadet and he was only 26 years old. Was stabbed by her boyfriend. His five year old son left without a mother. Never had reported. The last victim of the year, Yulia S. of 41 years, he leaves three other children orphaned. Nor had he given the voice of alarm, as happens in the overwhelming majority of cases. Are 55 women killed by their partners or ex-partners in a year, 2019, which is closed as the most fateful for half a decade. You have to go back to 2015 to find a number of victims higher. The women join in addition to three dead children, 34 from which were included in the official count.
Victims of violence
gender
2008 was the year with the most women murdered
76
71
60
54
55
49
beginning in 2013 begin to count the children who died
6
5
3
1
2003
2008
2013
2016
2019
Source: Government Delegation for Violence
Gender.
THE COUNTRY
mortal Victims of gender-based violence
2008 was the year with the most women murdered
76
71
60
54
55
49
beginning in 2013 begin to count the children who died
6
5
3
1
2003
2008
2013
2016
2019
Source: Government Delegation for Gender-based Violence.
THE COUNTRY
mortal Victims of gender-based violence
2008 was the year with the most women murdered
76
71
60
54
55
49
beginning in 2013 begin to count the children who died
6
5
3
1
2003
2008
2013
2016
2019
Source: Government Delegation for Gender-based Violence.
THE COUNTRY
it is Still early to know thoroughly the reasons of this rebound, and it remains to be seen if it becomes a trend in later years. Gender-based violence is a complex phenomenon and of multiple causes, but various experts consulted warn that, along the lack of measures provided outstanding develop, one of the causes which have influenced this increase is the speech by holocaust denier Vox, which insures against the institutional consensus existing for years both inside and outside of Spain that “violence has no gender”. “You can’t say that the increase is solely due to messages against the protection of women launched by the ultra-right, but it is clear that it is a factor that has influenced,” says the coroner Miguel Lorente, exdelegado of the Government for gender-based violence.
The vast majority of the murdered women, as was the case with Yulia S. or Rebecca Alexandra Cadet, not came never to ask help from the government. In this last year, four out of every five (80%) had not reported ever. It is the highest percentage since 2012. But the system also failed to the other 11 fatalities that yes warned of the danger that they faced and that, in some cases, were even included in the system of the protection of the police and judiciary.
prior Complaints
In 2019, a 20% of the murdered had reported to their aggressor
34,7
30,9
30,1
29,4
20
19,6
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
19
Source: Government Delegation for Violence
Gender.
THE COUNTRY
prior Complaints
In 2019, a 20% of the murdered had reported to their aggressor
34,7
30,9
30,1
29,4
20
19,6
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
19
Source: Government Delegation for Gender-based Violence.
THE COUNTRY
prior Complaints
In 2019, a 20% of the murdered had reported to their aggressor
34,7
30,9
30,1
29,4
20%
19,6
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2019
Source: Government Delegation for Gender-based Violence.
THE COUNTRY
2019 has been the year in which it exceeded the 1000 killed since there is official data —began in 2003 and already exceeded 1033— and also the anniversary of a law pioneer, the Organic Act on Integrated Protection Measures against Gender Violence, which celebrates 15 years and that allowed to reduce the number of killed —in the early years of the count were the 70 victims per year, and in the latter are around 50— and it has changed the social perception of a crime that is considered a matter intimate arranged of closed doors. And it is also a year that will be remembered for the arrival of the national institutions of a party with ideology of the ultra-right, Vox, which breaks down the institutional unit, demands to repeal laws that protect women and required to withdraw funds that are dedicated to combat the killings.
assault pending beyond the couple
There is another accounting of the victims pending, the Government began to develop in October of 2018. Are the murdered women beyond the partner or former spouse. A list that includes cases like the of and Marta Calvo, Diana Quer or Laura Luelmo, who killed strangers after agredirlas sexually. This extension is compliant with the Istanbul Convention, a european agreement that Spain signed already in 2014. “We need to start talking about femicides, murders of women due to the fact of their humanity. So we put as crimes of the State and all would be treated legally and socially as victims of gender-based violence”, claims the magistrate Lucia Aviles.
“The performance of Vox is reflected in the fact that the victims look with greater distrust of the institutional protection that they can offer and the perpetrators see reinforced his conduct”, values the magistrate and founder of the Association of Women Judges, Lucy Avilés, which calls for a “deep and objective analysis to determine all of the causes” of the last spike. “The speeches against the protection of women cast doubt on the victims and on the devices of judicial protection and of the police and higher-risk situations, but would not establish a situation of cause and effect directly because the murdered are just the tip of the iceberg of what’s going on,” considers the director of the Fundación Mujeres, Marisa Soleto.
If it eventually goes ahead with the investiture of Pedro Sanchez, planned for January 7, the new coalition Government will have to address the outstanding issues that have built up in the period features, such as the implementation of the measures of the Pact of State against Gender Violence, approved in 2017 and almost undeveloped. That agreement parliamentary it includes, among other, measures focused on fight, on the one hand, the lack of complaints and on the other ensure the protection of those who dared to take the step.
“The 80% of the killed has not been reported ever before but we can find 100% of women in the health system and from there develop a global strategy to protect them,” added Lorente. The pact is expected from the generalization of screening for health care —that doctors can apply measures and questionnaires to detect and combat violence— to the relief work of the Councils before that the women report, to facilitate that once safe to do so.
Soleto also puts the accent on the other side of that same reality: those who dared to denounce and yet are dead: “If we had managed to protect them throughout all these years, we would be talking of more than 200 women living. It is the biggest failure of this whole time.”
Improve the courts
in Addition to emphasize that there is to put the emphasis on education for equality, since boys and girls are small, the judge Lucy Avilés ask for that in 2020 “squeeze the legal instruments that gives the law” and the allocation of more media in the courts as the units of valuation forensics, that help to better detect the risk of the victims with teams of different specialists. Were already provided for in the 2004 act, and still apply in less than 1% of cases, recalls Avilés. “Most of the cases dealt with in courts mixed, you have to revise from a foreclosure to a case of male violence. And there is an uneven distribution of judicial remedies, the courts of people are in most cases collapsed respect of the capital”.
children are also considered victims, and Soleto and asks for them to “greater protection” than the current one. “We’ve seen in too many cases the system does not give an adequate response on all women who have children,” recalls the responsible of the Foundation of Women. He insists, as the Defender of the People, in a maxim that has not depth at all in the courts: No abuser is a good parent.
