Parallel offensives by the Government and the Junta against the rise in sexist murders in Andalusia

2023 is being an unfortunate year in terms of sexist violence in Andalusia. Of the 44 women murdered at the hands of their partners or ex-partners in Spain, 16 lived there. Seven have lost their lives in the last 30 days. Precisely, that seventh victim – a 37-year-old woman – was confirmed this Monday, the day on which the Government Delegation and the Junta de Andalucía have gone on the offensive to try to deal with the rise in cases and, although their representatives have appealed to unity and not to politicize this struggle, they have organized separate meetings evidencing their poor harmony.

At the Andalusian Women’s Institute (IAM) in Seville, the Minister of Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality, Loles López, met with the director of that institution and its coordinators. From there, it has come out with the commitment to train the lawyers on duty and to teach the employees of the municipal and provincial centers for attention to women and the Andalusian Service for Attention to Victims (SAAVA) of the administration of Justice the coordination protocol between the two services, approved last July, in addition to publishing a guide with all the initiatives and measures that the Board has in place to combat gender violence.

López has demanded that the central government “evaluate the policies that are being carried out” within the scope of the State Pact against Gender Violence, after making it clear that the communities have powers in prevention and care and the Executive, in protection. “We are talking about public funds and, therefore, we must evaluate the policies and responsibility in everything, starting with the Government of Spain.” The counselor has indicated that the Executive “must be more flexible on some issues” related to the pact.

In line with what he already defended in Parliament 15 days ago, López has once again insisted that he will ask the Government to include the number of victims in the criteria for distributing the funds of the State pact, a measure that is included in the Non-Law Proposition of the PP that this Thursday will be debated in the Andalusian chamber and in which the prerogatives of the community are barely emphasized. Its 12 points transfer, in general, the responsibility in the fight against sexist violence to the central Executive, which is required to modify the Penal Code or the Criminal Procedure Law, to “adapt it to the current reality that requires the fight against gender violence”; that approves a “public security strategy for the better and greater prevention, detection and eradication” of these crimes or that articulates “stricter protection measures” to prevent minors’ access to child pornography.

Pedro Fernández, the Government delegate, has also advocated for “coordination, collaboration and cooperation between administrations and institutions to guarantee protection” for the victims, after the meeting he held with the rest of the sub-delegates of the community. Fernández has highlighted the funds that the central Executive has allocated to Andalusia for the fight against sexist violence —573 million in the last two years; 16.5 million from the State Pact and 10 million for the new 24-hour crisis centers – and he stressed that it is “everyone’s obligation to unequivocally show the rejection of violence from all areas.”

The delegate of the Government in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández, at the meeting on gender violence in the community, this morning in Granada. / GOVERNMENT DELEGATION

The threat of Vox’s denialist discourse

“This situation of division is very dangerous. If there is something that we have to show institutionally, it is union against gender violence”, warns Miguel Lorente, former delegate for Gender Violence in the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The administrations do not have concrete answers about the reasons why this year has become the most tragic in terms of fatal cases of male violence since 2015, when 14 murders were recorded. Beyond the effectiveness of political strategies, experts agree that the appearance of Vox and its denialist discourse has been key in breaking social unanimity and whitewashing sexist behavior.

“We have gone backwards in the sexist discourse, the cavemen have come out of the cave with the whitewashing of sexist violence. The current counselor’s speech is not denialist, but Vox has been imposing that speech during the previous legislature and promoting measures that now, without them being necessary, continue,” says Andrea Barbotta, vice president of the Andalusian Council for Women’s Participation. Barbotta alludes to the telephone against domestic violence, a toll that the previous coalition government of PP and Cs had to pay to Vox – its parliamentary partner – to approve the Budgets, but that now, with an absolute majority, the popular ones have maintained despite who only receives one call a day on average. “We must stop duplicating services such as the domestic violence telephone number, which only confuses people,” says Carmen Jurado, Secretary of Equality at UGT Andalusia.

“Andalusia has never been like this,” maintains Lorente, who draws attention to the latest barometers from the Center for Andalusian Studies (the Andalusian CIS). In last December, it was stated that gender violence was not perceived as a problem and in June, the percentage of the population rose to 0.1%. “This shows that there is a problem of political action. “Political responsibility is not only applying answers to specific problems, it is also applying awareness,” he warns.

For Barbotta, more than implementing or reinforcing new measures, what it is about is “carrying out the measures that are already in the law.” An opinion with which Amparo Díaz Ramos, a lawyer expert in gender violence, agrees. “Training is very good, but it is important to provide sufficient resources so that they can comply with the law, because protection orders are not issued in victim care centers because that service is not provided, not because the law does not say so. , but due to a lack of professionals, the services that examine victims can request urgent measures from the courts, but they do not do so; For the purposes of public aid, women’s care services must accredit the violence detected, but it costs the victims the same life to be given any report or accreditation,” argues Díaz.

In Andalusia, since January, 16 women have been murdered, seven more than in 2022, leaving 11 orphans. Of all of them, only three had filed a complaint, according to the data provided by the Government delegate. Behind the rise in statistics there are names and surnames that share a path of fear and suffering. A reality that “demands means to end it,” says Lorente. “All administrations must be self-critical and assume their responsibilities, without throwing the ball into the other’s court,” summarizes Jurado.

debate in Parliament

Next Thursday in the Andalusian Parliament two NLPs on gender violence will be debated, that of the PP and that promoted by the PSOE to create a working group within the Ministry of Equality with the participation of political groups, public institutions, experts , associations and women’s groups to develop measures to combat this type of violence that are adopted by the Board. Although it seems that both will have the support of all political groups, with the unknown of Vox, neither has been free of political noise. “In the end we are at an impasse while the Government is being formed and it seems that what they want is to influence that weakness and that is what worries us,” says Patricia Laguna, Secretary of Women of CC OO, who demands stable policies that put the focus on the rural world and on the economic independence of the victims and that they are not improvised based on the rise in murders.

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