Institutional Statement by the government on occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Since 1999, following a decision by the United Nations General Assembly, International Day for the elimination of Violence Against Women is commemorated on 25 November each year, with the aim of raising awareness in society as to the problem of the violence suffered by women and the serious violation of the fundamental rights of women throughout the world in this regard.

On this occasion, the Council of Ministers approved the following declaration on 22 November:

Text of the Statement

"On the occasionof International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25 November, the Government of Spain declares its decisive commitment to continue devoting all its efforts to combating violence against women in all its manifestations, its solidarity with the victims and its outright condemnation of attitudes towards and acts of violence against women on grounds of sex or gender, while guaranteeing the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all women.

Violence against women is the most brutal manifestation of inequality that exists in our society as a result of the historically unequal power relationships between men and women.

As indicated in the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to Member States of the Council of Europe on preventing and combating sexism, approved on 27 March 2019, violence against women is tied into sexism, which creates a climate of intimidation, fear, discrimination, exclusion and insecurity which limits opportunities, and sexism is reinforced by gender stereotypes affecting women and men, girls and boys, and runs counter to achieving gender equality and inclusive societies. To that end, the Convention of the Council of Europe on the prevention and the fight to combat violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention), ratified by Spain in 2014, obliges us to foster changes in the forms of socio-cultural conduct with a view to eradicating any practice based on the idea of the inferiority of women and of the stereotypical roles of women and men.

In this regard, the Report from the Sub-committee of the Lower House for a State Pact on Gender-based Violence, approved by the Lower House of Parliament in September 2017, urges the elimination of stereotypes and prejudices based on gender with the aim of eradicating the perception of inequality and of involving all of society in the fight against sexism and violence against women. The achievement of these goals requires education in respect for human rights, non-discrimination between men and women and rejecting any form of violence against women. Moreover, the help of the media is essential in raising awareness, broadcasting positive images rather than stereotypes of women and men that avoid the copying of sexist roles.

2019 sees the 40th anniversary of the approval of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which Spain ratified in 1984, and which urges States to adopt policies and measures to move towards full equality between men and women. At a United Nations level, Spain supports the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and the resolutions on matters adopted by the Human Rights Council and at the United Nations General Assembly.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, approved at the UN Sustainable Development Summit held in New York in 2015, provides for gender equality among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 5) and its aims include the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls. Gender equality is included, on a cross-cutting basis, among other SDGs, with particular importance in SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and strong Institutions).

December 2019 will mark the 15th anniversary of the unanimous approval by the Lower House of Parliament of Constitutional Law 1/2004, of 28 December, on Comprehensive Measures to Protect against Gender-based Violence, which was a milestone in public policies aimed at combating violence against women. This pioneering law at an international level made Spain a benchmark on the global stage in this matter. For the first time, a regulatory instrument addressed gender-based violence in a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary manner, spanning both preventative, educational and social aspects and care for victims, including civil law rules that affect the family and co-existence ambit where these assaults principally take place, and also the punitive response to manifestations of violence. This constitutional law provides a global legal response that spans both procedural rules, through the creation of new institutions such as the Courts for Violence against Women, and the Prosecutor's Office for Violence against Women, and substantive criminal and civil law rules, including aspects relating to the training of healthcare workers, police offices and legal agents commissioned with attending to and protecting victims.

Over these last 15 years since the approval of Constitutional Law 1/2004, of 28 December, it has been amended on four occasions: regarding orphanhood pensions; to guarantee free legal aid for victims; to increase protection for children who are minors and minors subject to guardianship or wards from victims of gender-based violence; and most recently, in 2018, to incorporate some of the measures provided for in the State Pact against Gender-based Violence approved in 2017 and the Istanbul Convention.

Recently, and with the aim of continuing to make progress on complying with the State Pact, important laws have been passed, such as Constitutional Law 5/2018, of 28 December, reforming Constitutional Law 6/1985, of 1 July, on the Judiciary, on urgent measures in application of the State Pact on Gender-based Violence that addresses aspects related to the specialised training of judges and prosecutors and the introduction of specialised tests to become a member of specialised judicial bodies.

In addition, in 2019, Law 3/2019, of 1 March, to improve the orphanhood situation of children of victims of gender-based violence and other forms of violence against women, establishes an "orphanhood provision" for the children of women killed by gender-based violence in those cases in which the mother had not previously made National Insurance contributions or not contributed the minimum amount to generate the right to an orphanhood pension; while improving the legal system for orphanhood pensions when the death occurs as a result of violence against women. Furthermore, Royal Decree-Law 6/2019, of 1 March, was approved, on urgent measures to guarantee equal treatment and opportunities for men and women at work, which takes further steps towards equality and the prevention of violence against women at work through the implementation of measures to prevent sexual harassment and harassment on grounds of sex.

Over the course of 2019, progress has been made on compliance with the measures contained in the State Pact against Gender-based Violence, measures that are the shared responsibility of all the public authorities, institutions and State powers to implement.

However, despite the efforts of all the public authorities and the existence of international, national and regional laws that guarantee the principle of gender equality and the prohibition of any act of violence based on gender, a gap still exists between the principles enshrined in these laws and the reality, between legal gender equality and real and effective gender equality. Despite the efforts made to date, violence against women still persists. In Spain in 2019, the tragic figure of 1,000 women killed by their partner or former partner was reached since records began in 2003. This violence has taken the lives of 1,027 women and, since 2013, of 34 children, as a result of this violence perpetrated against their mothers and has also left 275 children orphaned as a result of the killing of their mothers.

Furthermore, sexual violence disproportionately affects more women and in a form of violence against women that is very prevalent in society; according to the Macro-survey on Violence against Women 2015, 13.7% of women resident in Spain aged 16 or over has suffered sexual violence over the course of their lives, violence that brings with it very serious consequences for the physical and psychological health of victims.

These figures clearly display a reality that must not be treated as normal or trivialised, a structural violence towards half of the population of our country that prevents the full liberty, equality and security of women and of their children on the exclusive ground of being women.

The eradication of violence against women cannot be achieved without addressing social attitudes that tolerate or justify this. In short, it is fundamental to reduce the social acceptance of this violence in order to prevent it, which demands a change of culture, attitudes and conduct of men that promote them.

That is why it is necessary to continue pushing through measures that allow violence against women to be prevented in Spain and beyond our borders, fostering education on the values of equality and respect from the earliest school cycles, co-education of boys and girls at all stages of education, the peaceful resolution of conflicts in all areas of personal, family and social life, and improving the resources to care for and protect victims, including those Spanish victims that live overseas, guaranteeing them the best institutional response to situations of violence. This demands the full and global commitment of the Government of Spain, of its institutions, regional authorities and of all of society in the implementation of these actions.

Faced with the challenge of a society free of violence against women, we are all under a great responsibility. Public authorities, professionals in the fields of security, justice, education, social and health services, companies, women's associations, the media, and, in general, civil society as a whole, are commissioned with accompanying the victims and with declaring our absolute rejection of violent attitudes. To achieve that, we have an integrating instrument in the form of the State Pact against Gender-based Violence - a reflection of the social and political consensus regarding the need for the fight to combat violence against women to be a priority issue on the political agenda with the aim of effectively guaranteeing the full exercise of the fundamental rights and liberties of women, without which we cannot enjoy a truly democratic society".

Non official translation