SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 11 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The 112 helpline for women affected by gender-based violence has registered 8,254 calls in the initial half of this year, a rise of nearly 4% compared to the same period in the past year. Among these, 394 women had some form of disability.
The predominant sources of violence were partners (49%) and ex-partners (27%), while there were also notifications of violence from strangers (25%), children (2%), or fathers (1%).
More than half of the total calls (4,157) were urgent, signifying imminent danger for the victims, leading the emergency response teams to be activated on 1,087 occasions between January and June.
Additionally, 4,452 police interventions and 405 medical responses were mobilised, as per a statement from the Government of the Canary Islands.
In terms of violence types, 4% of the calls were related to physical abuse with sexual components, while 43% reported physical violence and 40% non-physical violence. The remainder consisted of inquiries or coordination requests.
Cooperation Agreements are in place between the Autonomous Community (via the Ministry of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Children, and Families) and the ICI, aimed at sustaining and enhancing the Canary Islands System for the Prevention and Comprehensive Intervention against Gender Violence.
These agreements are multi-year and cover the period from 2023 to 2026.
Through this funding, each island executes awareness and prevention activities against gender-based violence, manages the resources within the Canary Islands Network of Public Services and specialised centers for Social Care of victims of gender-based violence (DEMA – Emergency Device for Abused Women, Shelters, Immediate Shelter Centers, Supervised Apartments, or SIAM). It also establishes shared systems for data management, registration, consolidation, and analysis.
The total Institute’s contribution to the councils for each year of the agreement is set at €8,210,317.00.
These findings were presented on Thursday by the Minister of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Children, and Families, Candelaria Delgado, in a meeting alongside the Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, the Government delegate, Anselmo Pestana, the Government delegate for Violence against Women, Carmen Martínez, and representatives from law enforcement agencies, the Fecai, and the island violence units.
The gathering reviewed the on-going programs and initiatives implemented on the islands to combat gender violence, with the councillor praising the valuable work of the 112 helpline service and the effectiveness of the system established in the Canary Islands to address all forms of gender-based violence.
UNANIMOUS REJECTION BY SOCIETY AS A WHOLE
“The Canary Islands possess a network of resources to combat all forms of gender-based violence, funded through an agreement with all councils. It offers information, prevention, and protection services to victims across all islands,” but stressed the necessity to “unite against the rising cases of gender-based violence and the growing denials, appealing to the unanimous rejection of society to isolate the abusers.”
She highlighted, “Gender violence represents a significant systemic issue that tragically ends the lives of women just for being women and is fundamentally rooted in machismo.” Additionally, she mentioned that current VIOGEN data reveal “almost 6,000 abusers in the Canary Islands, men who present potential danger to their partners or ex-partners, subjecting them to persecution, threats, insults, assaults, forcing them to change jobs, relocate for safety, or even go into hiding.”
Among other updates, the councillor informed about the advancements made by the Canarian Institute for Equality (ICI) in procuring properties to provide round-the-clock services to victims of sexual violence across the five islands that requested it: Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura. This service would serve as a supplement to the established network of gender violence resources across all islands.
