· The Palau del Temple, headquarters of the Delegation, has hosted the institutional act on the occasion of the 25-N, under the slogan No Empty Chair
· The delegate of the Government in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, considers “that the negationism of gender violence only empowers the abuser”
The Government Delegation in the Valencian Community has held today, 24 November, an institutional event on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which is celebrated tomorrow.
The fight against violence against women must be “the fight of all and everyone”, said the delegate of the Government, Pilar Bernabé. Faced with this, “negationism only empowers the abuser. Negationism is gasoline in a fire that we want to put out.” Therefore, the Government Delegation “will be vigilant so that the State Pact against Gender Violence is complied with and no step backwards is taken in the fight against gender violence, which must have a social consensus”.
The event, held at the Palau del Temple, headquarters of the Delegation, served to remember all the women murdered this year at the hands of their partners or former partners. Under the title No empty chair, the Delegation has placed 53 chairs with the names of each of the victims of gender violence in Spain, including that of a minor murdered by her mother’s partner. Among them are also the five women murdered this year in the Valencian Community (specifically, two in Orihuela Costa, one in Antella, one in Alzira and the last victim in Castellón).
This tribute began with the reading of an excerpt from the institutional declaration on the occasion of the 25N by the Deputy Delegate of the Government in Valencia, Raquel Ibáñez, in which it was highlighted, among other things, that “the Government of Spain expresses its absolute rejection of all forms of male violence, a structural violence that is the cruellest expression of discrimination, the situation of inequality and the power relations of men over women”.
Likewise, it is recalled that the year 2023 “has marked a turning point in the implementation of public policies against male violence”, with the development of different mechanisms contemplated in the Organic Law of Integral Guarantee of Sexual Freedom.
Another important milestone has been the consolidation of the crisis committees in order to analyze the interinstitutional response to cases of femicide and the approval of the State Strategy against Male Violence 2022-2025, the main instrument for planning public policies on violence against women for the coming years.
In addition, in 2023, the Progress Report of the State Pact against Gender Violence 2018-2022 has been ratified. “Of the total number of measures for which the General Administration of the State is responsible or involved, 96.8% are complied with or in process,” according to this statement.
However, “it is necessary to promote profound changes at the sociocultural level.” This is “the basic and inescapable goal of public policies for any government committed to the protection of human rights,” he added. In this task “we must walk with the institutions, organizations, with the feminist movement and, ultimately, with the whole of society”.
Subsequently, after the institutional declaration, the name of all the murdered women has been read and kept a minute of silence .