A very sensitive indicator to assess the political commitment of a government is its actual action against gender violence. One year after the change of regional Government, it is necessary to evaluate the situation in this matter in La Rioja. …
I am going to highlight the failure to comply with some of its most significant mandatory measures. The Observatory on Gender Violence of La Rioja, intended for institutional coordination and monitoring of public actions, has not met even once under this Government (it must do so at least twice a year). This is the body that must approve the Rioja Strategy against Gender Violence, which until today, therefore, does not exist. The Observatory includes the participation of specialized associations directly involved in combating gender violence. Participation that has not been possible, thus failing to comply with a basic democratic principle.
This Law contemplates a wide range of measures for the professional training of public services personnel (education, health, social services, employment, equality and justice), which must be taught by qualified personnel within an organized strategy. It is not performed.
Municipal women’s support centers have not been launched to offer comprehensive specialized care at the local level, accessible especially to the most vulnerable women. The Law contemplates specific measures aimed at caring for women with greater difficulties (with mental health problems, migrants, people with disabilities, in situations of exclusion or others) that have not been developed either. We must add the absence of an intersectional approach in the few actions developed, essential if we want to serve women with greater difficulties equitably and effectively. The absence of these municipal support centers further deepens the territorial inequity in access to specialized care.
The change of regional government has meant a radical change in the attention that has been paid to gender violence since Seris. The professional who had been carrying out the task of coordinating and promoting this care for 22 years was dismissed in the fall without any explanation. Eloquent fact, reflection of a way of doing politics. Even more so, taking into account that the action carried out until then had earned recognition and awards at the state level and was being an advanced reference for health services in other autonomous communities.
After this cessation, many emblematic projects have been paralyzed. Some of the most relevant are: the Good Treatment Strategy, the powerful network of referents (about 100 people) against gender violence (GBV) existing in all health centers and in the specialized services of public hospitals, the Week of Screening against GBV, the Protocol for addressing the impact of GBV on minors of female victims of GBV, the structured planning of staff training and actions, the operation of the technical commission against GBV, the implementation of the protocols for detection of GBV in pregnancy or sexual violence or prevention and promotion in schools and institutes… and a regrettable long etcetera.
In these months, the figure of the lawyer from the Women’s Advisory Center, present since the 80s of the 20th century, has also disappeared, which means defenselessness for women. There is also no adequate staff for the Crisis Center for sexual violence that is to be launched this year.
The current regional government wants to promote a strategy to redirect GBV care to the Crime Victim Assistance Offices, judicializing the care, moving away from the needs of women, who prefer proximity services (social service centers or of health) that respect their long processes, often far from the complaint and courts, in a confidential and safe environment. Victim Assistance Offices which, by the way, are managed by a private company.
The people with political responsibility for gender violence in the regional government are applying measures that move further away every day from the recommendations of scientific evidence. Whether due to incompetence or bad faith, it disqualifies them as public servants. La Rioja had the highest GBV rate in Spain in 2023, a very serious matter. [ Nota del editor: el primer trimestre de 2024 ha registrado una caída del 12,6% de casos respecto a enero-marzo de 2023 para pasar de 231 denuncias hace un año a 202 en el último período estudiado, según el Observatorio Estatal de Violencia sobre la Mujer]
It is urgent to radically change course or the suffering of women, minors and their family and social environments will increase. Citizens and the professional sector must stop this alarming drift in matters of equality and violence, shamelessly promoted by an unbridled far right in Europe, which undermines our rights and freedoms.
