Coinciding with the celebration of the International Day for the Eradication of Violence against Women, the Local Development Observatory of the Regional Council of El Maresme has analyzed the official data of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). It is a quantitative study that calls for reflection based on the number of Maresme victims, which totaled three throughout the year.
According to the official CGPJ compilation, last year there were three femicides in Maresme, 15.78% of the total records in Catalan territory. The annual count is lower than in 2021, but instead more complaints were registered, more orders and protection measures were initiated and adopted, and the percentage of orders and protection measures adopted compared to those initiated also increased year-on-year. In fact, the percentage registered in Maresme (51.4%) is higher than in Catalonia (46.8%).
On the other hand, last year there were 57 people prosecuted for sexist violence, 50 of whom (87.7%) were convicted. The 2022 data is lower than that recorded in the previous year. In 2021, 84 people were prosecuted and 75 of them (89.3%) were convicted. From the data collected by the Local Development Observatory, the volume of victims who take advantage of the exemption from the obligation to testify as witnesses is surprising. Registration for 2022 amounts to 314, almost 220% more than the previous year.
The Consell Comarcal del Maresme is committed, based on the Institutional Declaration approved in the last Plenary Session by all political forces, with the exception of VOX, to “dedicate all the efforts and resources necessary to guarantee the right of women to a life free of sexist violence” while calling for the involvement of everyone since “each and every one of us also has a primary role in the immediate response after violence.”
The region has some services that the Generalitat of Catalonia, through the Department of Equality and Feminisms and the Institut Català de les Dones, has deployed in recent years: The SIAD, as a reference service to provide information and care to women ; the urgent response to women in situations of sexist violence through the reception of emergencies and specific services, the SIE Maresme aimed at the psychological recovery of women, children and adolescents who have suffered or suffer sexist violence, and soon we will have the Barnahus, intended to care for minor victims of sexual violence.
