Virginia Barcones is committed to promoting the action and coordination tables against trafficking and sexual exploitation in Castilla y León

• The Government delegate in Castilla y León inaugurates in Valladolid a day aimed at professionals to unify criteria of action and coordination in the field of trafficking, asylum and foreigners • The day has counted more than 160 professions of the State Security Forces and Bodies, responsible for the Work and Immigration Units and the Violence against Women units of all the provinces, local police and personnel of entities such as Aclad, Adoratrices, Simone de Beauvoir, Amanecer Program or Adavas

November 13, 2023.- The delegate of the Government in Castilla y León, Virginia Barcones, has inaugurated this Monday the 'Trafficking Day for the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation and Law of Foreigners' promoted by the Units against Violence on Women and framed in the training and awareness activities carried out on the occasion of the commemoration of November 25.

A day with a technical profile, aimed at professionals, which has managed to gather more than 160 attendees and which Barcones has marked as a turning point for the subsequent development of the coordination tables for the follow-up of actions against trafficking in human beings in all provinces, so that this coordination is maintained in the territories.

In this regard, Barcones recalled that there are provinces in which the bureaux, which were constituted under the Framework Protocol for the Protection of Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings, clearly need a boost while there are still provinces where they have been constituted.

Hence, the objective, he stressed, is that in 2024 all the provincial bureaux become the coordination framework for the work in the fight against human trafficking in Castilla y León, with the holding of sessions at least six-monthly.

In this regard, Barcones recalled that this Monday’s day seeks to establish guidelines for action for the detection, identification, assistance and protection of victims of trafficking in human beings, while promoting the coordination of the institutions involved in these processes and defining the relationship mechanisms between the administrations with responsibilities in the matter.

“This coordination must also reach the processes of communication and cooperation with organizations and entities with proven experience in assisting victims of trafficking, in particular those that provide comprehensive assistance and participate in public administration programs for assistance and protection.”

For all these reasons, the day was attended by members of the State Security Forces and Corps, as well as those responsible for the Work and Immigration Units and the Violence against Women units of all the provinces, local police and personnel of entities such as Aclad, Adoratrices, Simone de Beauvoir, Programa Amanecer, Adavas and Red Coa, among others.

“We wanted to create a meeting space for most of the institutions involved in an action that we believe is necessary given the changes in the legislation on Foreigners, in constant adaptation. It is a day of updating and to establish common criteria for action,” said Barcones.

In the inauguration ceremony that the delegate carried out through videoconference, the Secretary General of the Government Delegation in Castilla y León, Francisco Javier Pérez, the Colonel Chief of the Civil Guard Command in Valladolid, Andrés Manuel Velarde; the Provincial Commissioner of the National Police in Valladolid, Francisco Javier Oterino; the coordinator of the Viogen Units in Castilla y León, Jessica Martínez, and the head of the Unit of Violence against Women in Valladolid, Eduardo Gutiérrez, participated.

IN FIGURES

This Monday’s day is the fourth training action carried out in November by the Government Delegation within the framework of the “firm commitment” to combat all forms of violence against women and link with the day held in Palencia, which affected the close relationship between the increase in the consumption of pornography among our children and its close relationship with the growth of sexual violence.

One in 10 young people between the ages of 15 and 29 has consumed prostitution, the average age of access for the first time to pornography is 12 years, and 47.4% of teenagers who watch pornography have ever imitated what they saw, but have not always done so by mutual agreement.

Therefore, Barcones highlights the need to deactivate consumption when it is a proven fact that exploitation grows among young people. “If the consumption of prostitution and pornography increases, if demand increases, the need for supply will increase, making it more difficult to combat aberrant expressions of modern slavery such as trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation.”

Barcones also wanted to remember that when we talk about trafficking, we also refer to the purpose of forced labour, begging, the practice of criminal activities and forced marriages.

According to data from the Statistical Balance 2018-2022 on Trafficking and Exploitation of Human Beings, in Spain more than 8,000 inspections were carried out in places where prostitution is practised and more than 30,000 women at risk were detected.

In Castilla y León, specifically, about 900 inspections were carried out, almost 4,000 people were detected at risk, and 68 victims were identified. The countries from which people at risk come were mainly Colombia, Spain, Romania, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Paraguay and 95% of the victims were women.

In 2022 alone, 813 people were known to be at risk of being trafficked, 30 people were identified as victims of trafficking or sexual exploitation, and 18 people were arrested for these crimes.

Finally, Barcones wanted to emphasize that since 2021 and for the first time, the percentage of women traffickers exceeded that of men, representing more than 50% of arrests, which confirms that many of the former victims go on to occupy positions of responsibility in the trafficking networks as ‘madames’ or captors.