The Government creates 3 new Sections on Violence against Women in Extremadura

The Royal Decree approved by the Council of Ministers increases the number of specialized units in the community to five

The Council of Ministers has approved a Royal Decree that establishes the creation of 50 new positions of judges and 42 prosecutors specialized in violence against women throughout Spain. In the case of the Community of Extremadura, this measure involves the creation of 3 new Sections specialized in Violence against Women, one for each of the following judicial parties: Mérida, Cáceres and Badajoz.

These units are in addition to the 2 Courts of Violence against Women currently in existence in the community, which will be integrated as specialized sections within the new Courts of Instance, as established by Organic Law 1/2025 on Efficiency of the Public Justice Service. Overall, Extremadura will have a total of 5 specialized sections, which significantly strengthens its judicial capacity to deal with this type of crime.

The measure, promoted by the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts and designed by the General Council of the Judiciary, shows the firm commitment of the Government to the protection of victims of gender and sexual violence, ensuring that the judicial system has adequate resources to provide specialized and effective care.

More competencies and more resources

The Efficiency Act further expands the competencies of these Sections, which until now were limited to cases of gender-based violence at the level of the partner or ex-partner, to include all sexual crimes committed against women, regardless of the relationship between the victim and the aggressor. This requires greater judicial specialization and allows a more agile, sensitive and effective response on the part of the system.

In this way, Spain complies with the international obligations arising from the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

The approved Royal Decree provides that each new judge’s seat will be accompanied by a specialized prosecutor’s seat, which also strengthens the staff of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in this matter. At the national level, the measure will allow an increase of about 50% in the number of judges specializing in violence against women.

A structural transformation of the judicial system

The new seats will come into operation on December 31, 2025, coinciding with the completion of the deployment of the Courts of Instance, which will replace the current single-person courts. This transformation is one of the central axes of the Law of Efficiency of the Public Service of Justice, which promotes the greatest reorganization of the Spanish judicial system in decades, with the objective of making it more modern, functional and specialized.

In total, the law will transform more than 3,900 courts into 431 Courts of Instance, allowing a more efficient distribution of resources and greater capacity to adapt to the real workload.