The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, reported that the Camino de Santiago in Galicia currently has 1,600 points where pilgrims can find resources to prevent any type of violence against women on the Xacobea route. He did so at the presentation in Melide of the campaign #NoCaminasSola, in which the delegations of the Government of Aragón, Navarra, La Rioja, Castilla y León and Galicia are involved, which are the communities through which the bulk of the people who make the Camino pass.
The delegate explained that this initiative, launched for the first time in 2021, is aimed at strengthening the protection of women who do the Camino de Santiago. Pedro Blanco presented it in Puente Furelos, accompanied by the deputy delegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas; the mayor of Melide, José Manuel Pérez Dolores; the superior head of the National Police in Galicia, Ramón Gómez Nieto; the Colonel Chief of the Civil Guard Area in Galicia, Miguel Ángel González Arias; the head of the Coordination Unit against Violence against Women in Galicia, María Debén, and the spokesperson of Pharmacy Offices of the Official College of Coruña, Silvia.
“Women are being the protagonists of these pilgrimage paths and year after year their presence goes on. They already represent 53% of the people who do the road (more than 230,000 women did it in the last year) and do not hesitate to do it on many occasions without company,” said the delegate.
The #NoCaminasSola initiative offers pilgrim women all the information of emergencies and the resources of the Security Forces and Bodies to which they can go along the Camino, on the different routes that travel through Galicia until reaching Santiago. That information is accessible at such points as hostels, tourist offices, police and civil guard offices and local police, health centers, pharmacies and public hospitals.
“In addition, for ease of understanding, the material distributed at these points (34,000 posters and cards) is available in Spanish, English and Galician. And we also have the AlertCops application, which allows to communicate alerts in real time and with location sending,” said Pedro Blanco, who stressed that the ultimate objective of this campaign “is to turn the Camino into a path that women can travel, alone or accompanied, without any danger or limitation.”
The delegate also took advantage of the event to thank the mayor of Melide for his welcome and collaboration in this campaign, recognition that extended to municipalities, health personnel, equality personnel in the subdelegations of the Government and the College of Pharmacists, whom he thanked for his involvement. He also valued the work, dedication and commitment of the Civil Guard and National Police “always and especially in this summer campaign, and in this concrete initiative to make the Camino de Santiago even safer.”
Finally, Pedro Blanco recalled that “this is an egalitarian and feminist government, committed to the promotion of women’s rights and the safeguarding of their security”, as demonstrated by the more than 82 million euros invested in Galicia since 2018 in actions to prevent and combat male violence. Of these, more than 73 million were transferred to the Xunta to finance its actions in this matter.
“Therefore, we frame this campaign, #NoCaminasSola, within the purpose of the Government to make our society a better, safer and therefore freer place for all women. With this horizon, we will continue to work so that in the near future, the existence of this type of initiative is not necessary. We will achieve it all together,” he concluded.