After the renewal of the State Pact against Gender Violence, the government delegate in La Rioja, Beatriz Arraiz Nalda, said that we are facing “progress in two fundamental aspects for our society, namely equality and freedom for women.”
Arraiz Nalda has pointed out that the purpose of the Government of Spain is to advance in “new mechanisms to combat all forms of male violence, but also to generate a cordon sanitaire against the negationism of Vox, a clearly retrograde party, as demonstrated by being the only one who voted against this renewal.”
For this reason, he has thanked the political parties that supported this great and ambitious agreement for their responsibility and high-mindedness in putting up differences. “Great consensus has been essential to transform the male chauvinistic society into a democratic, egalitarian and just one,” he added.
As explained by the delegate of the Government in the autonomous community, this new State Pact, improved and expanded, contains 461 measures compared to the 290 that were included in the previous one of 2017. In order to develop them, adequate funding has been provided and the new text provides for 50% more funding, which means a commitment of 1.5 billion euros for the next 5 years.
Of this planned funding, 160 million per year will go to the autonomous communities, 60% more than in 2017; 100 million per year will go to the General Administration of the State, 20 million more than in 2017; 40 million per year to the municipalities, 50% more than in 2017; and new measures are established to strengthen the traceability and control of the funds.
Incorporation of important news
The delegate explained that this new text presents important innovations, such as those incorporated in the field of vicarious, economic and digital violence.
With regard to vicarious violence, one of the most important points is the reform of Organic Law 1/2004, of December 28, on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence to include as victims of gender violence those minors who are victims of vicarious violence after the breakdown of family coexistence, on the occasion of visiting regimes.
In addition, gender-based violence risk assessment systems will be refined to adapt to underage victims by developing specific indicators on vicarious violence, such as the existence of previous complaints of violence against the mother, previous intervention by social services in situations of family conflict, alcoholism or drug addiction of the father, previous incidents in the fulfilment of the visiting regime, the violent nature of the father, in case there are complaints of aggression by the father to third parties, or the use or possession of weapons, among others.
The recognition of daughters and sons who are victims of gender violence as direct victims will also be legally developed through the qualifying title, for as long as necessary, which allows to accredit to the administration the consideration of victims of gender violence, allowing access to the resources intended for these victims.
Another new development is the specific incorporation of economic violence in the legal system. In this way, economic violence will be recognized, regulated and defined in our law as a form of gender violence, understood as the action of limiting, suppressing or controlling, in an unjustified and intentional way, the access of women to the economic resources of the family, the couple or their own, as well as reducing or nullifying their present or future economic capacity to support themselves, their daughters and sons, or to continue with their previous habits, with the aim of making the woman economically dependent on the aggressor, reducing her options to escape violence and, therefore, increasing the possibility that the situation may result in deprivation, psychological damage or developmental disorders.
It should be borne in mind that economic gender violence is not only the crime of non-payment of pensions, but also other criminal types such as the crime of raising assets, scams, misappropriations or unfair administration.
With regard to digital violence, this type of violence is also specifically incorporated into our legal system. Gender-based digital violence means any act of violence against women committed with the assistance, in part or in whole, of the use of information and communication technologies, or aggravated by it, such as mobile phones, the Internet, social media platforms or e-mail, directed against a woman because she is a woman.
To this end, a law will be approved for the protection of minors in digital environments, with special attention to the prevention of gender violence in all its manifestations.
This renewed State Pact provides for the punishment of those who, without the authorization of the person concerned and with a view to impairing his or her moral integrity, disseminate, display or cede his or her body image or voice audio generated, modified or recreated by means of automated systems, software, algorithms, artificial intelligence or any other technology, in a way that seems real, simulating situations of sexual content or seriously humiliating (deep fakes).
Among other measures, it will promote the adoption and monitoring of systems that allow us to detect and eliminate comments and threads of incitement to violence against women in any of its forms on social networks, through the use of artificial intelligence.
It also provides for awareness-raising campaigns on the types of sexual violence that manifest themselves in the digital sphere, including the use of artificial intelligence to create modified images, showing in a pedagogical way to minors the forms of sexual violence to prevent it, and its consequences on the victims, including their mental health, and their sexual and emotional life.
Victims in the rural world
On the other hand, the perspectives of childhood, youth, older women, migrants are incorporated with greater emphasis, and it also pays special attention to rural women and women with disabilities.
With regard to the rural world, in coordination with the autonomous communities, attention will be increased to victims in rural areas, with a greater number of reception and/or information centres of a regional nature or with itinerant resources covering more than one region.
In addition, the police presence will continue to be strengthened and specialized itinerant teams operating in rural areas will be promoted for the adequate care of victims.
Within this rural area, victims will be provided with effective and quality care and accompaniment, adapted to the conditions and specificities of the victim's environment, as well as access to resources outside the municipality of residence of women victims of violence will be facilitated to preserve anonymity and displacement to ensure care by specialized services.
Collaboration between administrations will also be strengthened to improve the network of housing resources for victims of gender violence and their daughters and sons, and it will be promoted that autonomous communities and local entities can provide closer, effective and accessible care for victims with disabilities, as well as for those in other situations of special vulnerability, such as those related to addiction, mental health, age or origin, among others.
Another aspect to be highlighted is that awareness-raising campaigns against violence against women in rural areas will be strengthened, due to the greater incidence in this environment; among the migrant population, given their special circumstances and, in many cases, their situation of vulnerability; and campaigns aimed at men will be promoted, with an intercultural perspective and in different languages, to combat male chauvinism.
Finally, with regard to judicial measures, legal measures are proposed to prevent the payment of alimony payments from being used to try to modify the visiting regime or to force agreements in regulatory conventions, as well as to prevent the use of non-payment as a form of revenge of the victimizer.