The deputy delegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas; the mayor of Miño, Manuel Vázquez, and the Lieutenant Colonel Interim Chief of the Command of the Civil Guard of A Coruña, Fernando Pedreira, signed this morning, at the Xunta Local de Seguridad, the protocol of accession to the Viogen system of protection of women victims of gender violence.
After signing the protocol, the subdelegate expressed her satisfaction with the incorporation of Miño into this system: “Viogen is an essential and necessary tool to advance in the protection of victims of male violence”; thus, he stressed that the “fight against gender violence is a task in which all institutions must be fully involved, and that is why from the subdelegation of the Government, we will continue to work for that commitment.”
With the incorporation today of the City of Miño, there are already 24 municipalities adhered, which is a great advance. Thus reaching 42% of the municipalities of the province, taking into account that in 2018 only 3 of them were within the system, and that those likely to be part are those who have local police, specifically 58 in the province as a whole.
In this regard, María Rivas called on those municipalities that have not yet joined the system to Viogen to do so “so that among all of us, we continue to take the right steps in the eradication of violence against women.”
In the province of A Coruña there are 2,192 women who have some type of protection provided by the administration: “The local administration is the closest to the citizens and therefore, the local police in each municipality have a greater knowledge of the reality of the women who are victims of male violence in it, so they can adapt and improve the service they provide.”
The Viogen system allows the Local Police to have more information on all active cases of male violence in the municipality. In this way, the local agents themselves assume the follow-up and control of some of these cases, generally those that are considered to be of low or unappreciated risk level. In cases of greater risk, it is the Civil Guard that is responsible for monitoring.
In addition, the accession to Viogen allows municipalities to obtain more funds from the State Pact to carry out prevention and awareness-raising activities in the field of male violence throughout the year. “Because safety is only one part of the issue, we also need to do other training work on equality and in the field of prevention,” said Rivas.
The subdelegate also stressed the importance of collaboration between all the administrations involved in the process of monitoring and protecting victims since “the exchange of information is essential to be able to act in a coordinated and effective way.”
María Rivas expressed her gratitude to the mayor of Miño, Manuel Vázquez, for the effort made in the development of equality policies and the fight against gender violence, as evidenced by the incorporation of the local police of the municipality into the Viogen system.