The latest report from the Attorney General’s Office, corresponding to 2023 and presented this Thursday, specifies with numbers a commonly repeated assessment when analyzing sexist murders in Spain: in the periods of the year in which the family relationship is more intense (vacations – especially in summer -, weekends or holidays) more femicides are committed. For the first time, the Prosecutor’s Office has taken into account the murders of women at the hands of their partners or ex-partners not only by month, but also by day, distinguishing between work days and holidays. Of the 1,073 femicides recorded since 2006, 45.8% were concentrated in five months: the three summer holidays and the two Christmas holidays.
A single sexist crime is already a failure that affects the whole society, so the key is how to deal with a drama that has claimed the lives of 1,278 women since 2003, when official statistics began. Spain has a good legal network and assistance for victims, and collective sensitivity is growing in a society that is still very sexist. Despite this, since the person responsible for a murder is the one who commits it, it is essential to strengthen the protection mechanisms for women at risk. In December, faced with an increase in murders, the Interior Ministry committed to improving the criteria for action of VioGén, the gender violence monitoring system, which had more than 98,100 active cases as of August 31, almost 17,000 more than on the same date in 2023. However, no system is infallible, as shown by the fact that the last two murders (in Castellón and Madrid) had been under the umbrella of VioGén, but at this time lacked judicial protection measures.
Any resource that provides greater security to an abused woman is necessary, but this effort will be incomplete without greater participation from the whole of society to bring to light many episodes of hidden violence that go unreported. Hence the vital importance of the victims’ entourage being more proactive in order not to silence these situations. Without greater involvement from citizens, especially those closest to the abused woman, institutional efforts may prove insufficient.
Every day last year, 546 reports of gender violence were filed; of all of them (close to 200,000), only 1.82% were filed by the victim’s entourage, according to the latest data from the Judiciary. Social involvement can also contribute to women themselves taking the step of reporting. In 75% of the femicides committed in the last decade, the murdered woman had not previously reported her aggressor. When what is at stake is a woman’s life, protecting her is a duty of the entire society.
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