In 42 of the 55 murders due to gender violence so far in 2023, there were no previous complaints: neither filed by the victim nor by those around them. But as the Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, warned this morning, “women cannot be burdened with more, because in addition to living in a terrible situation of daily terror they also have to report it.” The Government wants to put the focus on the families, the friends, the neighborhood, after verifying that the people around the 22 murdered women did know about the situation of abuse they were going through, but no one reported it.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, received the head of Equality at the headquarters of his department to explain the operation of VioGén, the protection system for victims of sexist violence, after the minister said a few days ago that it had to be “improved” and “reinforced.” Some statements that caused astonishment in the Interior, according to ministerial sources, since it is considered a world reference system. In 2018 there were around 29,000 women registered in the system, while now there are 50,300. And five years ago there were 28,000 public servants involved in this tool, and currently there are about 43,000.
The meeting emerged, in unison, the need for the victims' environments to be “proactive” in reporting gender violence, based on the data analyzed. Redondo has announced that the ministry he directs will launch a specific campaign to encourage environments to report and Marlaska has stressed that it is society's responsibility to report gender violence. To both victims and those closest to them, he has addressed: “To trust our Security Forces and Corps because in many cases it is the only way to save your life.”
Despite these data, Interior sources tell La Vanguardia that since the so-called Protocol 0 was launched – which allows since 2012 to investigate gender violence without complaints from the victim – 30% of the new cases that enter Viogen come from of said mechanism.
The Minister of the Interior has also reported that 13 of the 55 fatalities this year had an open case in the Viogén system, which he has warned is “not infallible.” Five of those cases were active – three of them with protection orders – and eight were inactive either because at the time of the crime the case had been closed, the aggressor had been acquitted or had already served his sentence.
Then the Minister of the Interior has specified that these last three circumstances are not a sine qua non condition to deactivate a procedure in the system, since "subsequent circumstances have to occur" that are analyzed by the State Security Forces and Bodies (FCSE). ) for its deactivation when it is understood that “there are no risks”. However, it has been announced that the “inactivation criteria” of the cases registered in VioGén will be reviewed to reduce the risk that there may be for the victims.
The 62-year-old woman who was found dead today with signs of violence in Nogueira de Ramuín (Ourense) was also not in the VioGén system, as the minister has pointed out. The Civil Guard, in charge of clarifying the case, has all hypotheses open, so no motive for the crime has been ruled out.
Redondo highlighted that the rise in femicides recorded this year is being evaluated, although he presented some graphs at the press conference to ensure that the resources and measures to fight against sexist violence have reduced murders by 20% in the last 20 years. years
