The Government Delegation hosted this morning a training day on forced marriages given by the entity Doctors of the World and directed to professionals of social organizations in Melilla.
“It is a form of gender violence that is little recognized and that we identify little, when it really is one of the forms of gender violence that has an impact on the lives of women, especially girls, when this type of marriage occurs,” explained the Melilla Project Coordinator in Doctors of the World, Silvia Madejón.
In the words of the representative of Doctors of the World this is an issue that has hardly been talked about and, in fact, she has recalled that the legislation in Spain that includes forced marriage as a criminal typology is from 2015. Therefore, “it is important to begin to address this issue and in a context such as Melilla where it can have an impact and importance”.
The Head of the Coordination Unit Against Gender Violence, Laura Segura, for her part, has recognized that it is an honor for the Delegation to host this type of conference “because it is a space that is always open to all citizens and, in this case, to carry out training in gender violence”.
Therefore, he explained that, when Doctor of the World “considered the possibility of developing a day on forced marriage, which is a form of gender violence, especially a form of violence against women and girls, and which, in turn, is also a violation of human rights, we saw that it was essential to be able to do them with entities and organizations that are working at the local level this type of crime.”
Segura has pointed out that this is a very invisible reality in our society as well as in all societies of the world and “it is time to start addressing it, to coordinate and put data on this reality that, practically, is not denounced and that, however, we know that it is perpetuated and that it develops in our society and that, in all countries, millions of girls and adults are forced to marry”.
The Head of the Unit referred to the importance of seeing “what are the fine lines that unite different crimes that are related to forced marriages and also what are the terrible consequences on the women and girls who suffer them, consequences on their health, as well as the causes that lead to this violence suffered by women.”
At this point, Laura Segura has indicated that this issue is fundamental so its objective is that it is addressed in other formations that are made from the Unit because “the concept of forced marriage is one of the crimes that is worked on and one of the violence to which, from the Unit itself, we try to respond”
The units, he said, have the fundamental function of providing a response from the institutions to women who suffer gender violence and, within that response, the violence that is contemplated are not only gender violence in the context of the couple or former partner but also sexual violence, trafficking, sexual exploitation and, in turn, forced marriages that are, sometimes, also a crime of trafficking.