Castilla y León will receive more than 4.5 million for programmes to combat gender violence

• The Secretary of State for Equality and Against Gender Violence distributes grants with a budget of 40 million • In the distribution there is a fixed part for all municipalities and also takes into account the number of inhabitants, the incorporation of the Viogen system or the number of users of the ATENPRO system • The deadline for the development of the programs ends on June 30 of next year

July 21, 2023.- The Official State Gazette has published the resolution of the Secretariat of State for Equality and against Gender Violence under the Ministry of Equality that, in accordance with the State Pact on Gender Violence, funds are distributed among local entities for the financing of programs to combat this type of violence. In total, Castilla y León will receive 4,587,821 million euros to be distributed among the 2,248 municipalities distributed among the nine provinces.

The budget of this program amounts to 40 million euros of which, once the evaluation of the remainder of the contributions of 2021 is carried out, 36,228,578 million are distributed. As indicated in Royal Decree 1023/2020, 30% of the funds are distributed, in equal parts, among all the municipalities constituted according to the data of the Registry of Local Entities. Another 20% of the funds is distributed among the municipalities in proportion to the number of inhabitants as of January 1, 2022.

Another 15% is distributed equally among all municipalities included in the Ministry of the Interior ' s Comprehensive Monitoring System for Cases of Gender Violence (VioGén System). The remaining 35 are distributed according to the number of women users of the Telephone Service for Care and Protection for Victims of Gender Violence (ATENPRO) registered in each municipality before the transfer resolution for the annual allocation of funds is adopted.

The municipalities must allocate these funds to the implementation of programs aimed at the eradication of gender violence that develop the new or expanded competences reserved to local entities in the State Pact on Gender Violence.

Castilla y León has allocated just over 5.2 million euros although, during the process of reviewing previous aid justifications, the remaining amount has been taken into account so that the amount to be transferred will finally be slightly higher than 4.5 million euros. By province, the municipalities of Salamanca will receive 734,869 euros while Soria is the province that receives the least amount, specifically 295,363 euros.

Distribution of funds to municipalities of Castilla y León 2023

Province	Total amount awarded in 2023(1) –  Euros	Total remainder of 2021 – Euros	Remainder of 2021 Compensable in 2023(2) – Euros	Amount to transfer in 2023 (1) – (2) – Euros
ÁVILA	547,539,93	81,628.09	73,474,54	474,065,39
BURGOS	839,866,11	142,736,14	141,956,41	697,909,70
LION	571,322,51	67,357,30	57,819.35	513,503,16
PALENCIA	435,515,06	63,650,08	55,157,80	380,357,26
SALAMANCA	790,237,88	62,864,76	55,268,61	734,969,27
SEGOVIA	462,607,97	46,767,57	36,944,25	425,663,72
SORIA	371,700,68	77,273,55	76,337,37	295,363,31
VALLADOLID	669,192,34	89,941,07	74,168,35	595,023,99
ZAMORA	523.944,10	67,612,66	52,878.42	471,065,68
TOTAL CASTILLA Y LEÓN	5.211.926.58	699.831.22	624.005,10	4.587.921.48

The programmes financed from these funds will cover the implementation period from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. In the event that the funds are executed by communities of municipalities or districts, they must provide by electronic registration, within five working days from the publication of this resolution in the Official State Gazette, the agreement or legal instrument that empowers them to execute actions aimed at the promotion of equality between men and women or against gender violence.

After the end of the implementation period, the entities that have received the aid will have the deadline for submission of documentation to justify the aid on September 30, 2024.

In the distribution of funds, the amount of the remnants of 2021 has been determined. Thus, the result of subtracting the total amount awarded for this year minus the amount of the remnants of two years ago compensable at present will be the amount to be transferred to each local entity in 2023.

CAMPAIGN “SER LIBRE.ESTAR VIVA”

On the other hand, during this week, the delegate of the Government in Castilla y León, Virginia Barcones, presented in Aranda de Duero the summer campaign against the male aggressions ‘Ser Libre. Estar Viva’ taking advantage of a preparatory meeting for the Local Security Board that is held today Friday on the occasion of the Sonoriza Ribera 2023 so that the most multitudinous festival of all that are held in Castilla y León takes place “normally and without incidents”.

It’s a generic campaign that “doesn’t just focus on sexual violence. We seek to reach mainly, as it is summer, leisure centers where there is a majority presence of young people,” said the delegate of the Government in Castilla y León. This campaign is circumscribed in three scenarios: the great festivals, the festivals of towns and cities and the private nightlife venues. 

The data supports the need for this type of campaigns. In the last year, there were 619 crimes against sexual freedom in Castilla y León, of which 72 were sexual assaults with penetration. Crimes against sexual freedom increased by 18% compared to 2021, which, for the government delegate, “has a not necessarily negative interpretation because the percentage of women who have suffered sexual violence outside the couple and who have reported what happened in the Police, the Civil Guard or the Court did not reach 10%, according to the 2019 macro survey on violence against women.”

For Virginia Barcones, this increase in the number of complaints “is due to the active policies of awareness raising and reducing social tolerance against this type of crime, which translates into a greater willingness of victims to report and a reduction in the high levels of underreporting that occur in sexual violence.”

The campaign will have a special impact in Castilla y León during the months of August and September. For the delegate “it is essential to report on the existing resources to attend to the victims of all forms of male violence in our autonomous community. These resources, characterized by their capacity for comprehensive care and specialization, must be implemented by all the competent institutions. The institutional cooperation of all public administrations is necessary.”

016, Alertcops, free legal assistance, psychological care, the work of the State Security Forces and Bodies or the importance of women’s networks will be valued. “And we cannot fail to place the emphasis on all policies of prevention and accompaniment to the victims of all forms of male violence,” he said.

VIOLET DOTS

The violet dots are part of the catalogue of urgent measures of the Improvement and Modernization Plan promoted by different ministries of the Government of Spain and represent a change of focus in public policies of attention to victims, placing male violence as a structural problem that requires the involvement of the whole of society to put an end to it.

With these violet points, an attempt is made to involve the whole of society in the fight against male violence. Bringing comprehensive services closer to victims through their environment. And provide information on how to respond to a case of male violence to establishments, entities, companies and public agencies.

Tools are provided for this. As a guide with information on how to act in the face of a case of male violence in the environment, as well as resources for the victims themselves. It also includes information on what male violence is, its different manifestations, and how to detect it.

Likewise, various materials such as posters and stickers that aim to point out that this space is a safe place for victims, where they can receive information and accompaniment if they need it. And, in addition, badges to identify people involved in the fight against male violence: anyone who uses it will represent a gateway for women victims to access the resources they need.

MUNICIPALITIES AND STATE PACT

The violet dots have been visible during the holidays that have already been celebrated and will remain so for the rest. For the past five years, municipalities have had funds from the State Pact against Gender Violence.

In Castilla y León, they have received 17.5 million euros since 2018. According to Barcones, “there is already a long way to go in raising awareness of a problem of the first magnitude to prevent it from happening”.

The criteria for action in the face of a sexual assault at parties are to protect the person attacked, respect his opinion and his wishes, to nip rumours in the bud and preserve his identity, to coordinate all the institutions that have to attend to this person and, finally, to identify the aggressor so that the FCSE can make it available to the courts.

For all of this, citizen collaboration is essential. But it is also necessary that all services with competences in these actions are alert.

Of course, Civil Guard and National Police, but also 112, health services, psychologists, legal services for women, etc. At this point, Barcones recalled that the autonomous community of Castilla y León has received this year 14 M€ from the Government of Spain to combat violence against women.

The measures to tackle sexual violence in the context of leisure activities related to the festivities of our towns and cities involve awareness-raising (with appropriate materials), coordination between all the institutions involved in the protection of women, citizen collaboration and also police presence in a double plane: uniformed and located in strategic places, as a deterrent measure, but also discreetly to detect very worrying practices.

At this point, the delegate recalled the fear that invaded the whole country last year due to punctures and chemical submission: “And if that fear is generated, even if later it cannot be substantiated or demonstrated that it is actually happening, then only the subjective feeling of mistrust attacks the woman and is a brake on her freedom. So we are going to do everything in our power so that this situation does not happen again, so that all women feel protected as well as being protected.”

PRIVATE NIGHTLIFE

The campaign will also reach private nightlife venues. Discotheques, concert halls, bars, music bars, etc., are meeting and relationship spaces that, like many others, sometimes become the scene of behaviors that prevent everyone from enjoying them equally.

Sexual violence or the threat of it is one of the priority ways of limiting access to public spaces in a way that is equal for women. “We are going to promote violence against women units,” explained Barcones yesterday Wednesday, “meetings with those responsible for these leisure spaces to explain what our campaign consists of and to request their collaboration.”

Emphasis will be placed on encouraging reporting as a starting point for tackling the problem. The use of the Alercops application will also be disseminated, in addition to seeking an increase in security measures in these establishments. They and the workers in those entertainment venues, including waiters or security guards, will be offered talks to mark collaborative strategies. “We would like to get the business sector to act jointly and consensually to establish forms of prevention and action that are effective and useful,” said the government delegate.

And if, unfortunately, it becomes the case that sexual assault occurs, they also have to receive guidelines on how to act, on how to derive those cases through an optimal circuit for the immediate attention of the victim and so that the aggressor can be brought to justice.