The sexual violence perpetrated by minors against minors "in extremely complex neighborhoods of Badalona", and especially in Sant Roc, have resurrected a dead person. The Generalitat and the City Council of this city agreed yesterday to reactivate an old pact that "was in the process of being dissolved and which, in fact, had been inoperative for years".
The Minister of Social Rights, Carles Campuzano, and the mayor of Badalona, Xavier Albiol, acknowledged yesterday "the political differences" that separate them, but also what unites them: "And Badalona occupies us and worries us". The councilor maintains that "the more community action, the less inequality". where? In the labor market, education and housing, three of the problems of these neighborhoods.
The Badalona Sud Consortium was born precisely for this. The Generalitat and Badalona City Council created this body in 2006 to improve "the complex and singular reality" of neighborhoods such as Congrés, el Remei, la Mora, Artigues and, especially, Sant Roc. These were long-term investments and actions to improve and strengthen existing services.
More than fifteen years later, however, the investments were paralyzed and the Badalona Sud project was shut down. The reality uncovered by the sexual assaults committed by minors in Sant Roc has shown the need to revitalize this pact, when it was about to expire. Councilor Carles Campuzano and mayor Xavier Albiol recognized this.
Neither one nor the other, however, specified the investments that the regional and municipal administrations will inject so that what previously failed is now a success. The consortia, they said, are not "a magic potion", but they offer tools to act together, improve neighborhood coexistence and detect cases of vulnerability not yet identified by social services. There are already examples of success, such as the Consorci de la Mina in Sant Adrià de Besòs. Xavier Albiol insisted that the renewed consortium must have "the active participation" of various departments of the Generalitat, such as those in charge of education, social policies, housing and urban planning, among others. "If they're not all there, it won't work", concluded the mayor, who a few days ago proposed lowering the criminal age to prevent some sexual aggressors like those in Sant Roc from being impeachable.
This issue was not addressed during yesterday's meeting, despite the fact that there were "situations that scandalize us all, such as sexual violence by minors against minors", in the words of Carles Campuzano. Although he wanted to separate this fact from the recent sexual assaults in Sant Roc, the Minister of Social Rights also announced the implementation in other cities of initiatives such as Barnahus, which combats sexual violence against minors and "which has given very good results in Tarragona". This project will be extended to twelve more municipalities in Catalonia, including Badalona.
