The Government Delegation has recognized “the work that for the prevention and eradication of gender violence in our city as well as for the equality of the NGO Fiet and the team of Doctors of the World in Melilla, with the statuettes ‘Meninas’ 2024.
In the institutional act, held this morning at the IES ‘Virgen de la Victoria’, the Delegate of the Government, Sabrina Moh, has had words of gratitude so that they have received the recognition. “You are an example of involvement, leadership, civic engagement in one of the most noble causes facing humanity,” he said.
The head of the Government Delegation thanked her commitment and valued her commitment “in this battle to eradicate once and for all this evil from our society”, while also conveying her gratitude “to so many anonymous people who, day after day, combat violence against women. People who, in situations like this, contribute the best of themselves to be able to build a future where women can live free of fear and violence.”
Moh, who began his speech referring to the last two male chauvinistic murders that took place this week, -in Estepa and Alicante- stressed that there are already 42 women killed by gender violence so far in 2024. “42 lives started this year and that must continue to remind us that the fight against this scourge is a task for everyone and for all that acts like this are becoming increasingly important, both for their meaning and for the opportunity to acknowledge and thank, publicly, those who today receive this award for doing precisely that, fighting against this structural violence that is gender violence,” he said.
In his speech, Moh pointed out how special this edition is, given the 20 years since the entry into force of Organic Law 1/2004, of December 28, on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence. “Two decades since that first and important step with which Spain brought out a reality that had been hidden for centuries and suffering in silence,” he said.
A law, whose germ, as he recalled, was marked by a terrible episode such as the murder of Ana Orantes, “something that made us open our eyes as a society and reflect on what was happening”. “Her testimony on television, just a few days before she was murdered, awakened millions of sleepy consciences and taught us something very important: that we cannot look the other way, nor should we be indifferent to the violence suffered by thousands of women in our country and millions of them around the world,” she said.
“Thanks to that testimony, we knew that this violence was not a private problem, but a matter for the whole of society,” he recalled and recalled that, from that moment, “the institutions were clear that concrete measures had to be taken and as a result that law was unanimously implemented and that spirit of consensus also encouraged the approval, in 2017, of the State Pact against Gender Violence, a transcendental step consistent with that law to move forward in prevention, protection and assistance to victims.”
20 years later, he said, “we are aware that it was a pioneering law not only in Spain, but that it made us a world reference.” “It represented not only the culmination of a long road of demands of the feminist movement in our country, but also the starting point of what is today one of the most advanced legislations in the world,” he stressed.
But, above all, he stressed that the approval of that law “represented a paradigm shift, because it placed at the center of the debate a violence hitherto confined to the private sphere and recognized its structural character and common to all strata of our society.”
“That rule targeted denigrating euphemisms such as “crime of passion,” “domestic violence,” or “domestic violence.” Words that arise again between the negationists and those who want to hide this reality under messages of hatred,” he explained.
Moh has pointed out that there have been many advances during these 20 years, but has also recognized that “there are quite a few challenges and challenges that we face”. Thus, he referred to the negationist messages that have led to the breaking of that generalized consensus on gender violence and the emergence of the need to promote and strengthen equality policies, “those that permanently question to try to reimpose silence, to bring the victims back to solitude and to bring this violence back to the private sphere.”
“We are many people who have decided not to remain silent or impassive in the face of this reality and who are willing to fight this discourse with determination and with more conviction than ever,” he warned and stressed the importance of our young people “who I am convinced will continue to advance by a majority in this feminist conquest.”
“The steps we are taking have helped protect thousands of women, save many lives. But it is clear that there is still a long way to go to eradicate a violence that continues to be rooted in our society and that we will continue to work in a coordinated way between the different institutions, security forces and bodies and all entities of the sector,” he said.
“This fight is and must remain an absolute priority for the whole of society and, therefore, for the Government of Spain, where on a day like today we want to continue showing our firm commitment to this cause,” he reiterated.
Moh ended his speech by asking for all those women who are no longer there because they have been murdered and for all those who have suffered and suffer these violence, “to do today and every day of the year that their pain is never indifferent to us again.” “For all of them we will continue in the fight,” he said.
Spain, international benchmark
The Head of the Coordination Unit against Violence against Women, Laura Segura, for her part regretted that gender violence does not cease and wanted to make it clear that the Government Delegation in Melilla “declares its determined dedication to continue combating violence against women in all its manifestations and its strongest condemnation of attitudes and acts of male violence, as well as our solidarity with the victims”.
Thus, he recalled that gender violence is one of the cruellest manifestations of subordination and imbalance in power relations between men and women. “It constitutes a serious violation of fundamental rights and is one of the most terrible expressions of inequality that exist in our society,” he said.
“The persistence of this structural violence is a reality that obliges the public authorities and, with them, the whole of society, to continue taking steps to achieve full equality between women and men in all areas. In order to achieve this, the eradication of violence against women is a necessary condition”, he stressed.
Segura has welcomed the progress we are making as a country on issues such as prevention, comprehensive response and reparation in the face of all manifestations of male violence, always putting victims at the center, to guarantee their safety, their protection, their rights, their well-being, and their needs. But, he warned, “we must continue to move forward because violence against women and their sons and daughters continues to plague our reality.”
“We must continue to make visible and extend the scope of action and attention to all the violence suffered by women because they are women, beyond the violence that occurs in the context of the couple or former partner – sexual violence, sexual exploitation, trafficking in women and girls, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, prostitution, online violence etc.”
And for this, he added, “the involvement, coordination and action of all institutions, administrations, entities, agencies with the unique commitment of the construction of a society free of violence against women is indispensable. Being one of the main challenges that we as a society have ahead of us.”
The Head of Unit has also referred to the two decades since the implementation of the Law against Gender Violence, and has also had words for Ana Orantes. “I would like to begin by recalling that day, December 4, 1997, when Ana went to a television set to tell of the brutal violence she had suffered during 40 years of marriage,” she said and referred to her murder, at the hands of her former partner 13 days after that television program because the court ruling on the marital breakdown had forced her to continue living with her aggressor in the same house.
“Ana took male violence out of private life, and turned it into a public issue,” he said, noting that this marked the beginning of a new phase in the fight against male violence, “understanding it as a social and political priority and not a private issue.” “And we understood that the eradication of this structural violence was a comprehensive approach. A normative instrument that put us at the forefront at the global level in the fight against the violence suffered by women simply because they are women,” he explained.
Segura has stressed that Spain is today an international reference in the fight to eradicate gender violence in any of its forms, fruit of the intense work carried out in the last 20 years. But he acknowledged that “it was not easy, it was necessary to create a social conscience so that we could have reached today”.
Thus, although he has pointed out that many advances have been made, he has warned that male violence “is structural and is transformed and adapted to reality in order to continue perpetuating itself” and, therefore, “requires the constancy and inexhaustible action of all institutions and society to combat it, and denying its existence does not help”. “Negationism is the negation of violence as a form of expression of an entire society, it is complicit tolerance in the face of this terrible reality,” he denounced.
In fact, the Head of Unit has stressed that gender violence “continues to be hidden and hidden, it is carried out with total impunity and the vast majority of women who suffer it and their sons and daughters are not arriving”.
“We have a key challenge that is breaking the silence that perpetuates this violence and reducing social acceptability in the face of gender violence, and we must do so from a clear and unanimous position against male violence, which means an end to the impunity of those who exercise it,” he observed.
Moreover, he said that shame “has to change sides and it has to fall on those who attack, also on those who look the other way and not on the victims”, and he pointed out that “we must, as a society, point the finger at the aggressors”.
In addition, she has said that it is necessary to continue promoting advances and measures to prevent violence against women, promoting education in values of equality and respect from the earliest stages, the co-education of girls and boys at all educational stages, and undoubtedly, to continue improving the resources for assistance and protection of victims.
“Against gender violence all agencies and institutions have to walk together and in the same direction,” he said. “We need the commitment of society as a whole, because the commitment has to be shared, in the common struggle to eradicate violence against women and girls, in the construction of a more just society and free of gender violence, in the accompaniment of all women, girls and boys victims of male violence, and in the remembrance of those who are no longer there, their family and social environments, and all the survivors,” he said.
And, in this sense, he has referred to the fact that it is key to make visible to society “this tremendous reality to continue advancing in its eradication, reality to which we cannot afford to backtrack”.
“Hiding this reality,” he warned, “camouflaging it with other forms of violence, means returning women to silence, shame that they should never have felt, isolation and loneliness.”
It means, he added, “turning our backs on boys and girls who live with their mothers in contexts of violence and allowing something as precious as their childhood to be stolen, it means denying femicides and murders of girls and boys in order to do the greatest harm to the mother, it means denying the existence of girls and boys orphaned by this violence, more cruel and harmful than any other”.
He has therefore called for further progress and ways to increase support for victims, to continue learning “from the complex reality” and to evolve. “Let us not stagnate, let us add will, work and effort, only then can we move forward and do so with a single objective, that inequality and this structural violence disappear from our society,” he said.
Meninas and honorable mentions
The Delegate and the Head of the Unit have been in charge of handing over the two Meninas, as well as the honorable mentions, which have been handed over to the Rusadir Secondary Education Institute (IES) and the UNHCR team in Melilla.
In particular, the Menina recognition for Doctors of the World has sought to highlight the projects of prevention, detection, care/referral and awareness/denunciation of different forms of gender violence that they develop and that are aimed at promoting the prevention of situations of gender violence in migrant women at risk or in situations of social exclusion and to improve the knowledge of professionals who come into contact with victims and possible victims about the different gender violence from a gender perspective and human rights directed to socio-health professionals, teachers, non-governmental organizations, etc.
They also wanted to acknowledge the team’s commitment, its work in the city for the prevention of all forms of gender-based violence and the improvement of the situation and care for women in situations of risk or extreme vulnerability, and the support and collaboration with the Unit for Coordination against Violence against Women in the response offered to women victims and in prevention and awareness raising.
On behalf of the Team of Doctors of the World in Melilla, it was Silvia Madejón who collected the Menina 2024 presented to her by the Government Delegate.
With regard to the recognition of FIET and its team in Melilla, which has been collected by Ezequiel Escobar and Nerea Martín, its work has been highlighted in the care, accompaniment and recovery of victims of trafficking, women in situations of risk or extreme vulnerability, in contexts of prostitution and sexual exploitation, and its fight against gender violence, in our city, nationally and internationally.
The delegation highlighted the commitment of the team and the response offered by this organization to women victims, with support for women victims in situations of trafficking, sexual exploitation, contexts of prostitution, risk of exploitation and special vulnerability. But also its contribution to the training of professionals who come into contact with potential victims AND victims of different forms of violence against women, and especially victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation and in prevention and sensitization, as well as support and collaboration with the Unit for Coordination Against Violence against Women.
With regard to honorable mentions, IES Rusadir has been recognized for its work in promoting equality and preventing gender violence among its students, always from a cross-disciplinary perspective, focusing its work through art and with ArteRusadir, and involving the educational community and other agents such as NGOs, MUSe, etc.
And it is that in this center they carry their awareness and awareness activities beyond the classrooms and the center, participating actively, with their performances and theatrizations, in events and acts that are organized in our city.
For this reason, the Delegation wanted to acknowledge the great work of raising awareness and preventing male violence, as well as the permanent effort of its teachers, and especially its equality officer María León, both with the students and with their families, developing co-educational activities in the fight against gender violence, not only on the occasion of ephemeris, but throughout the academic year.
“With this special mention we want to highlight the importance of coeducation as an effective tool for the prevention and eradication of male violence and recognize the work against gender violence that is being carried out at IES Rusadir,” explained the organizing institution.
The mention has been collected by the Director of the IES, Miguel Ángel López, its Head of Studies, Luisa Abvertián, and its head of Equality María León.
Finally, the second mention has been given to the UNHCR team in Melilla, which has been collected by Lorenzo Daniele and Laura Ribera, for their commitment and work to protect the women for whom they work from gender violence, implementing quality programs to prevent and respond to cases, mitigate related risks and safeguard their rights and well-being.
The delegation wanted to highlight its work in establishing alliances and coordination with the different administrations, institutions, organizations and entities that work with women and victims of gender violence in order to provide lasting protection and assistance solutions for UNHCR ' s stakeholders.
Thus, they have explained that asylum-seeking, refugee, stateless, internally displaced and returnee women are at risk of gender-based violence. UNHCR not only responds to violence once it has occurred, but also acts to prevent it by addressing its root causes and integrating gender equality into all aspects of its work.
Therefore, this distinction recognizes the coordination work for the follow-up and implementation of the Protocol to Prevent and Respond to Violence against Women within the framework of the Humanitarian Care Program, Project Seed, as well as the support and collaboration with the Unit for Coordination Against Violence against Women in the response offered to women victims and in the prevention of gender violence.