Virginia Barcones highlights the role of AMJE in defending the most vulnerable, especially women and children

• The Government delegate in Castilla y León has inaugurated in Valladolid the VI Congress of the Association of Women Judges of Spain whose motto is ‘Violence against women in war and the care of women in peace’

September 21, 2023.- The Government delegate in Castilla y León, Virginia Barcones, has inaugurated in Valladolid the VI Congress of the Association of Women Judges of Spain (AMJE). In it he has highlighted the role that this association plays in favor of equality as well as the defense of the most vulnerable in society, especially women and girls.

The 6th AMJE Congress is held in the Graduate Hall of the Faculty of Law of the University of Valladolid between today and tomorrow. The two tables of work and debate that the program of the day proposes mark two of the lines of action that define AMJE. On the one hand, sexual violence in armed conflicts and border areas will be discussed. On the other hand, the violation of the rights of women as main caregivers.

The government delegate has pointed out that Spain is one of the most advanced democracies in the world, although there is still some way to go. Above all, to achieve equality between men and women, because it is something that affects more than half of the population of our country. In this regard, he has given as an example what happened during the last month with the women’s football team, as “a shamefully sexist attitude” has tarnished and left in the background the most important success in the history of Spanish women’s football. An action that generated the reaction of an important part of society as a result of the courage of a footballer who became a victim, in the eyes of everyone, of an alleged crime of sexual assault and another of coercion, many other women have revealed that they have also suffered sexual harassment at work.

Virginia Barcones has also given as an example what happened in Ponferrada during the festivities in honor of the Virgen de la Encina, a festivities in which there was no Punto Violeta when the mayor considered that “there can be no privileged victims and that all victims are equal”. In this regard, he stressed that the Government Subdelegation in León requested the placement of these Violeta Points, a situation that was denied through administrative tricks and that, thanks to the work carried out by women’s platforms, this information to support the victims of gender violence was made known.

The government delegate explained that according to data from the State Observatory on Violence against Women, only one in ten women who suffer sexual violence complains and only one in three women who suffer gender-based violence complains. “The prevention, visibility and eradication of this type of harassment is one of the objectives of AMJE, as stated by the founding members of this association,” said Barcones.

During the inauguration of the conference, Virginia Barcones pointed out that the Association of Women Judges of Spain is a transversal association whose main objective is “the defense of human rights, of the most vulnerable with special attention to women and children”, in addition to contributing to the development and dissemination of Justice and Equality, through the awareness and sensitization of citizens.

The Association of Women Judges of Spain, which has 170 members, was founded in 2015 and began to develop its activities based on 12 anti-discrimination proposals. Among these proposals is the promotion of state policies that guarantee the protection of all women as well as providing the necessary human and material resources to make it effective.

Policies that also curb the protection of victims of sextortion that, with the generalization of internet access and the emergence of new applications, makes minors especially vulnerable, as shown by the case of the false nudes of Almendralejo of adolescents between 12 and 14 years old. Policies that allow the reduction of the wage gap between men and women. Active policies for an effective reconciliation of work and family life in matters of maternity and paternity. Or female visibility in language, among other postulates against discrimination on the basis of sex.

HELP WOMEN AFGHAN JUDGES

Virginia Barcones has highlighted the role played by the and International Association of Women Judges to help more than 200 Afghan women judges and their families leave Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power. “Overnight, Afghan judges were left defenceless and sentenced to death for doing their job, for defending the human rights of Afghan women and girls, for condemning men and standing up to a system that denied them as human beings,” said Virginia Barcones.

The Government delegate has highlighted the collaboration of AMJE in this work since eight of these judges arrived in Spain, two of whom are in Valladolid. “Thanks to the generosity they have found in this city, thanks to the collaboration of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, these two families and those of the other Afghan judges who have arrived in Spain are managing to rebuild their lives,” said Barcones.

From AMJE, we collaborate in the inclusion of Afghan judges to life in Spain by listening to their needs, creating collaborative networks to seek solutions to problems, sharing resources and generating bonds of friendship.

In this regard, Gloria Poiatos, member of the International Committee of Women Judges to help women judges in Afghanistan, co-founder of AMJE and judge of the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, indicated that the judges who have left the Afghan country have done so legally. “Women are being grossly punished, much more than what has been reported in the press a few years ago. The Taliban regime has reduced women’s rights so much that they have become little more than objects belonging to men.”

Virginia Barcones has encouraged AMJE to continue working to help these women as well as continuing those tasks that break down social barriers and make “our society fairer and more equal.”