The Government delegate in Cantabria, Eugenia Gómez de Diego, presented this Friday the Meninas 2024 Award to the Cantabrian Network against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation in recognition of her commitment and trajectory in the fight to eradicate gender violence. This award, granted by the Ministry of Equality on the proposal of the Government Delegation and given each year within the framework of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, has been picked up by its spokesperson Marisol Payá.
During the event, held in Santander, Gómez de Diego highlighted the involvement of people and entities that, like the Cantabrian Anti-Trafficking Network, work "beyond their obligations" to protect women's rights. Thus, the delegate has highlighted the "immense work" demonstrated by this organization specialized in preventing gender violence and caring for women in situations of risk or extreme vulnerability, especially in contexts of prostitution, sexual exploitation and trafficking. In addition, he has praised the tireless work of his spokesperson and founder Marisol Payá, who has led this commitment in Cantabria and at the national level.
In her speech, the delegate reaffirmed the commitment of the Government of Spain to equality policies and the fight against gender violence, and defended that it is necessary to "continue promoting measures, promoting education in values of equality and improving the resources of assistance and protection to victims".
Since 2003, 1,285 women have been murdered in Spain due to male violence, 40 of them so far this year. She has also pointed out that in Cantabria there are currently 1,426 women registered in the VioGén System, of which 924 have police protection measures. "Behind every figure there are lives taken away, families torn apart and a tragedy that challenges us as a democratic society," he said, recalling the names of some of the women killed.
In addition, according to Gómez de Diego, the judicial bodies of the autonomous community have registered 614 complaints of gender violence in the first quarter of 2024, which means "an average of seven per day." “More and more women trust the system and report thanks to awareness campaigns and improved protocols,” she said. However, he has warned that the number of women who are suffering violence from their partners or former partners "is greater, since there is still reluctance to file a complaint for fear of reprisals, for distrust of the system or for lack of knowledge of resources."
Do not put at risk everything achieved
With all this, the delegate has stressed that male violence continues to be a scourge in our society and has urged to banish the negationist discourses, which “put at risk everything achieved and threaten lives and freedoms.” "Spain is an international benchmark in the fight against gender-based violence, the result of the progress made in the last 20 years. We cannot allow this progress to be put at risk," he said.
Therefore, "despite the great advances achieved", the delegate has maintained that it is necessary to "break the silence" and the involvement of all public institutions, organizations and society as a whole, because "the eradication of violence against women cannot be achieved without addressing the social attitudes that tolerate or justify it".
For her part, Marisol Payá, on behalf of the people who make up the Network against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, has thanked the Delegation for the recognition and has demanded a law that promulgates the abolition of prostitution in Spain.
The event was attended by a hundred representatives of organizations and institutions such as the National Police, the Civil Guard, the High Court of Justice of Cantabria, the Unit for the Coordination of Violence against Women, the Defense Delegation, the Government of Cantabria, regional and national deputies, professional associations and associations.