- The Government Delegation in the Community of Madrid and the university of Madrid have today signed a Declaration of Intentions by which they commit to deploy a network of eleven safe spaces.
- The URJC thus becomes the first university in Madrid to join the initiative to open Violeta Points in its facilities.
- With the aim of providing all the information and having tools aimed at the university community to prevent and address possible situations of male violence.
The delegate of the Government of Spain in the Community of Madrid, Francisco Martín Aguirre, and the rector of the Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC), Abraham Duarte Muñoz, have today signed a Declaration of Intentions for the establishment of eleven Violeta Points in the University of Madrid, becoming the first in the region to join this initiative.
Both institutions have thus formalized their commitment to collaborate in the creation of safe and identifiable spaces within the university community, bringing resources, information and accompaniment to possible victims, as well as sensitizing the university society as a whole. The event, held in the building of the Rectorado of the Campus of Móstoles, was also attended by the head of the Coordination Unit Against Violence on Women of the Delegation, Eva Corrales Melero.
In total, it is planned to create eleven safe spaces located in all the libraries of the different campuses of the university, as well as in the student secretariats. Thus, the location of the Violet Points will be as follows:
- Campus of Alcorcón: Library and secretariat of students.
- Campus de Madrid (Vicálvaro and Quintana): Library and secretariat of students of Vicálvaro; and secretariat of students of Quintana.
- Campus of Aranjuez: Library and secretariat of students.
- Campus of Móstoles: Library and secretariat of students.
- Campus of Fuenlabrada: Library and secretariat of students.
“I would like to thank the rector and the Rey Juan Carlos University for being the first university in the Community of Madrid to join this initiative to open Violeta Points in its facilities and continue to commit to the fight against male violence at first hand. It is a very important step because we are going to transmit information, but also to generate security and with it, we intend to involve all citizens in the fight against male violence, also from universities, from all spaces, to eradicate this barbarism” said Francisco Martín Aguirre.
“Our goal is that it serves not only our students and our female staff, but anyone in the environment can approach a safe place where they can expose their problem and be helped,” said Abraham Duarte Muñoz.
Awareness-raising and training
These spaces will be identified through material provided by the Government Delegation in Madrid (signage, roll ups, stickers and action guides) with QR codes for direct access to available resources. Likewise, in compliance with the commitments made, the Delegation, through the Unit for Coordination against Violence against Women, will provide training to the staff who will attend the safe spaces and to those volunteers who want to acquire minimum knowledge in the field.
Violeta Points
The Declaration is part of the catalogue of urgent measures of the Plan for Improvement and Modernization against Gender Violence, the result of the joint work of several ministerial departments (Equality, Interior, Justice, Health and Social Rights and Agenda 2030). Within this catalogue of 15 measures, the Violeta Points are conceived as a tool for raising awareness, early detection and rapprochement of resources from local public services and the victims’ environment.
The objective is to spread, in a massive way, the information necessary to know how to act in a case of violence against women. This instrument places male violence as a structural problem that requires the involvement of society as a whole to put an end to it.