The Subdelegate of the Government in Las Palmas, Teresa Mayans, has inaugurated the day today Vicarious Violence. Telling it and raising awareness: another look at violence that the Coordination Unit against Violence against Women of the Delegation of the Government in the Canary Islands has organized in collaboration with the organization Bejeque. Art, Knowledge and Culture to HEAL.
During this day, held at the headquarters of the Government Delegation within the framework of the activities for the 25N, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and financed with funds of the State Pact against Gender Violence, two workshops have also been held aimed at children and adolescents victims of vicarious violence, focused on conscious meditation and emotional theater.
The main event has included the screening of the short film You’re not crazy, by María Bestar, and the presentation of the book I’ll make your life impossible, by Nanda Santana, and a colloquium with the two authors as well as María José Guerra, professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of La Laguna (ULL), Néstor Bolaños, psychologist expert in care for minor victims, and Ruth Miranda, expert in male violence.
During the inauguration, the subdelegate of the Government in Las Palmas defined vicarious violence as “a type of cruel, insidious violence, which uses sons and daughters to harm mothers, perpetuating a cycle of suffering and vulnerability that we cannot and must not allow” and recalled that since 2013 a total of 65 minors have died in Spain as victims of cases of gender violence against their mother, 6 of them in the Canary Islands.
“Vicarious violence directly attacks women, through the harm inflicted on boys and girls, who are indirect victims of this abuse. The damages are irreparable, both physically and psychologically. Every time an act of vicarious violence is committed, a family is being destroyed, the well-being and future of our children are being cut short, and a devastating message is being sent about the power and control of relationships,” said Teresa Mayans.
The Subdelegate of the Government has highlighted the importance that the Government of Spain attaches to the fight against gender violence and, within it, to vicarious violence, recalling that on September 30, the Council of Ministers approved the Preliminary Draft Organic Law of Measures on Vicarious Violence, which seeks to formally recognize it as a form of male violence, thus expanding the legal tools to guarantee the protection of victims and the reparation of damages caused.
“I want to call for collective action because, as a society, we must be united in the fight against this form of violence. The commitment of the institutions must be total, but the involvement of each of the local and regional administrations is also fundamental. Because every child suffering vicarious violence is a call to everyone’s responsibility: administrations, institutions, civil society and the media have a duty to raise awareness, to educate, and to ensure that no victim is left behind,” he said.