More than two years ago, the special rapporteur for United Nations about the violence against women, Reem Alsalemdenounced a “structural pattern” in the Spanish Justice system that, in his words, “unprotects girls and boys and discriminates against women“Unfortunately, his warnings were not unfounded. This Tuesday it was confirmed that the Italian Prosecutor’s Office has charged Francesco Arcuri, ex-partner of Juana Rivasfor alleged abuse of the children they both have in common. It should be remembered that Rivas was convicted in 2017 for child abduction and later received a partial pardon from the Spanish Government.
With the aim of advancing in the eradication of this type of sexist violence and promoting reparation to the victims, the opening day of the Observatory of Sexist Institutional Violence (OVIM), an event organized by the Aspacia Foundation in collaboration with the Association for Research and Specialization on Ibero-American Issues (AIETI), the 1600s Collectivethe Helia Association and Battlement Feminist Cooperative. Held in Madrid and attended Publicthe meeting had as its central axis the analysis of access to justice for women, sexist institutional violence and feminist strategies to face these problems.
They have participated in the dialogue table Martha Cabezasresearch professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid; Tania Sordojurist and expert researcher in gender and human rights; Virginia Gildirector of the Aspacia Foundation; and Tatiana Retamozolawyer and activist for women’s rights migrant womenrepresentative of AIETI.
“States are intrinsically linked to domination and violencesince they attribute to themselves the authority to decide what is legitimate and what is not,” says Marta Cabezas. According to the teacher, institutional violence is sustained thanks to the silence that surrounds it: “Not only does it remain invisible, but it requires that it not be talked about.”
Marta Cabezas, researcher: “Institutional violence is sustained thanks to the silence that surrounds it”
“To understand how the State exercises violence, it is enough to observe its actions: inaction in the face of phenomena such as DANA, the defunding of public universities or the outsourcing of essential services,” says Cabezas. He emphasizes that the State not only acts through concrete measures, “but also from its symbolic dimensionusing their power to name, classify and define what is legitimate and what is not.
“It is essential be careful with criminal law and the patriarchal justice so as not to fall into right-wing populist punitivism“warns the researcher. In her opinion, the key is to build a justice “that does not objectify the victims.” To advance this objective, she proposes four specific strategies: first, fight against silencing through delegitimization of narratives that sustain institutional violence; second, accompany the victims in what they describe as the “state labyrinth”; third, build alliances inside and outside the State, combining mobilization in the streets with the impact on institutions; and finally, bet on a autonomy and dissidence strategylearning to operate outside the state when necessary. “The State does not take care of me, my friends take care of me“he concludes.
Tania Sordo, jurist: “The State must comply with the principle of due diligence to protect and repair victims”
Tania Sordojurist and researcher specialized in gender and human rights, highlights “the State’s obligation to comply with the principle of due diligence to comprehensively protect and compensate victims.” In his analysis, he points out problems such as use of gender stereotypesa limited and homogeneous view of what it means to be a victim, and the persistence of systems of oppression. “In Spain, there still persists a absence of intersectional gender perspective in the judicial field,” he warns.
Virginia Gil, director of the Aspacia Foundation, highlights the constant tension between protecting legal rights, determining what happened and addressing the interests and needs of the victims. “Judicial compliance arises from the need to hold the justice system accountable,” he says, underscoring the importance of a judicial system that not only delivers justice, but also take responsibility for your mistakes and how they harm the people affected.
A collective complaint channel
During the day, the OVIM was also presented, “a civil society platform that aims to influence the political and social sphereand supervise that institutions act with due diligence to guarantee the right to a life free of sexist violence and discrimination against women, girls, boys and adolescents”. Their collective complaint channelwhich allows documenting, anonymouslycases and stories of sexist institutional violence.
As progress, Marina Olivamember of the Helia Associationand Amanda Alexanianpartner of Battlement Feminist Cooperativehave announced that, of the 120 cases of institutional violence reported on the platform of Barcelonaa 52.9% corresponds to judicial violence, that is, 63 of those cases. Of this percentage, 26.5% of the complaints involve judgeswhile the 14.8% They refer to actions of the prosecutor.
The “institutional torture” of Juana Rivas
In relation to the accusation against Juana Rivas’s ex-partner for alleged mistreatment of her children, Isabel Martinezplatform representative I do believe youdeclares to Public that “it is essential to create legislation that allows the Prosecutor’s Office to intervene more quickly and forcefully in cases with clear signs of violence, like this one.”
Martínez affirms that “in situations like this, it should be possible to act immediately to protect minors, without it being necessary for the defense to formally request custody“. Furthermore, he emphasizes: “We cannot allow the bureaucracy endangers the integrity of children.
Berta Sepurmember of the Protective Mothers networkreminds this medium that, like other mothers who have defended their sons and daughters from the institutional violence caused by the application of Parental Alienation Syndrome (SAP), Rivas suffered forced separation from her children, which violates the fundamental rights of childrenas pointed out by various United Nations rapporteurs and the recent GREVIO report (Council of Europe). “It is true institutional torture,” he laments.
Berta Sepur: “The prosecutor has taken three years to investigate the mistreatment, and Juana Rivas’ youngest son remains completely unprotected”
“It is a systematic violence of the judicial system, which responds to a patriarchal and adult-centric model. In the case of Juana’s children, the Hague Convention without taking into account Juana’s complaint of violence against Arcuri. The Italian prosecutor It has taken three years to investigate the mistreatmentand Juana’s youngest son remains completely unprotected, like so many other childhood victims of paternal violence and patriarchal judicial violence, which collaborates and perpetuates this violence,” he explains.
Sepur concludes by stating that “we have a judicial system that fails victims, tortures them. Children who are victims of sexist violence and their mothers do not find justice. “We demand that institutions protect children who are victims of parental violence and that they do not continue to prolong their suffering.”
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