The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, accompanied by the Government delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, today presided over the award of the Menina 2023 recognitions, which the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands awards on the occasion of the 25N, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
The event, held in the Throne Room of the Government Delegation in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the presence of civil and military authorities, was also attended by the Government’s sub-delegates in Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Teresa Mayans and Javier Plata, respectively.
“From the Government of Spain we express our absolute rejection of all forms of male violence, a structural violence that is the cruellest expression of discrimination, the situation of inequality and the power relations of men over women. Male violence violates the fundamental right to freedom, physical and moral integrity, equality and dignity of women,” said Ángel Víctor Torres, who stressed that, “in order to eradicate it, the Government of Spain has developed a set of public rules and policies whose objective is prevention, comprehensive response and reparation in the face of all manifestations of male violence, always putting victims at the center, to guarantee their safety, their protection, their rights, their well-being and their needs.”
The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory recalled that “male violence challenges all of us, forcing us to take decisive action to eradicate violence against women and the social attitudes that tolerate, justify or even trivialize it”, because, despite “the great advances we are making as a country, violence against women and their families continues to devastate our reality, a consequence of systemic and historical discrimination that for its elimination needs the unquestionable commitment of all public institutions and society as a whole.”
For his part, the government delegate has affirmed that it is the duty and obligation of the Government of Spain to fight against violence in general, but especially against gender violence with all the means and tools at its disposal, and that the cause of all women victims of this scourge “is the cause of the Government of Spain and of Spanish society, since the feminist flag is first and foremost a flag of unity.”
“For this reason,” he said, “we are concerned about the hate speeches promoted by the far-right political forces, which do not seek to curb social advances, but advocate a return to time. Unfortunately, this discourse is taking hold in some sectors of society, and evidence of this is the upsurge in violence and male murders.”
They have received the recognition Menina 2023:
- Multicultural Association of Mauritanian Women DIMBE
This recognition, which has been collected by the president of this association, Adama Touré Díaz, has been awarded for her remarkable work of dissemination mainly focused on informing, explaining, forming and denouncing the practice of female genital mutilation, considered as gender violence, as stated in the Istanbul Convention. It is important that citizens and institutions know this reality and the serious consequences that its practice entails for those who suffer them, since it seriously affects their physical and mental health, as well as being a continuous violation of their integrity as a woman and as a person.
In this sense, the DIMBE Association, which is knowledgeable and has specialized training in this problem, works in two different lines; on the one hand, they offer a service of direct attention to women survivors of genital mutilation and, on the other hand, they work from prevention and sensitization, giving talks to citizens, to the island’s associative fabric and to public services, among which are professionals in the health, social and educational fields.
- The Daniela Women's Care Program of the Oblate Congregation of the Holy Redeemer
This program has received the Menina 2023 recognition, which has been collected by its director, Asunción Bartolomé, for the attention it provides to all those elderly women, alone or with minor children dependent on it, who are in a situation of prostitution and who may also be victims of trafficking or sexual exploitation, labor, servile marriage. It is also important to highlight its Shelter, where women are cared for and all their needs are met while psychological, medical, legal, socio-educational and work care is provided.
This ceremony recognized their tireless struggle in denouncing all those structures of the different areas of society that do not respect human rights and the brutal violence experienced by women in these environments, for the collaboration and coordination of their work with the rest of the institutions of the Canary Islands expert in the subject and for the role they have in the Canary Islands community in terms of training and studying prostitution and raising awareness among citizens and professionals in the field.
- María Milagros Fuentes González
Practising lawyer at the Iltre. Colegio de Abogados de Santa Cruz de La Palma since March 1979, has received this recognition for its personal dedication and experience defending the rights of women and for its vital commitment to fight to end violence against women in all its forms. She has also excelled in her role as a female fighter for professional equality because she was able to break pre-established social norms for women on the island and imposed by society in the 1980s and 1990s. Thus, she became the first woman in professional practice and first woman dean of the Iltre. Bar Association of Santa Cruz de La Palma.
Her work has become a tireless struggle in which she develops numerous projects ranging from training in all those institutions and professionals that require it, through her altruistic attention as a collaborating lawyer in the Center of people with addictions in Santa Cruz de La Palma or as a private accusation defending the interests of the family of a mortal victim for a machista murder in July 2015 in her native island.
- Fundación Canaria YRICHEN
This recognition, which has been collected by Elena Caballero, head of the Maday House, and by Davinia Ramírez, head of the Treatment and Equality Unit of the Foundation, is given to the Canary Foundation YRICHEN for its MADAY Project, with which in 2021 a Reception and Treatment Support House was created for women with addiction problems and who are also victims of gender violence. Through this project the foundation accompanies the victims in their physical, psychological and emotional recovery processes in a continuous way and with a multidisciplinary and integral attention. In addition, the staff specialized in drug addiction and the staff of the Island Network of Gender Violence have been able to work together and coordinate and define better intervention plans adapted to each of the victims.
The MADAY Project has been a hard, new and unprecedented venture in the Canary Islands as it is the first therapeutic center for women victims of gender-based violence with addictions that exists in our autonomous community and, one of the few that can be added at a national level.
- Tomás Zamora Canino
He has been granted Menina 2023 recognition for his contribution to the immobilisation and subsequent detention of the assailant who on January 8 murdered a woman in Adeje (Tenerife), also providing help to the victim’s two minor children who struggled with the assassin in an attempt to stop the aggression.
Thomas Zamora observed the attack and immediately left his house, leaped on the aggressor, immobilised him until the police officers arrived and managed to get him to release the knife he was carrying. Although the victim’s injuries were already fatal, his action meant preventing further injuries to minors trying to protect their mother and preventing the aggressor from escaping. Undoubtedly, the action of this neighbor of Adeje significantly exceeds the involvement that the citizens are asked for in situations of gender violence. His performance is a very high example of altruism, generosity and courage because his drive to provide help was forced to think about his own safety.
At the end of the ceremony, actress Marta Fuenar played Francisca de Pedraza in a dramatized reading of a play about her life. This work, entitled ReVIVIla and which was premiered on November 22 at the CICCA Cultural Center, will visit several educational centers in Gran Canaria during the month of December as part of the awareness-raising actions of the Coordination Unit against Violence on Women of the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands.
The case of Francisca de Pedraza is today remembered as a milestone in the fight against gender violence in Spain, as she was one of the first women to win a court judgment for gender violence despite the legal and social limitations faced by women in her time, the 17th century.