The Head of the Coordination Unit Against Violence Against Women of the Government Delegation in Melilla, Laura Segura, highlighted the courage of Gisèle Pelicot, who has played a crucial role in giving visibility and justice to the fight against male violence.
Segura recalled that 20 years ago the Comprehensive Law Against Gender Violence removed gender violence from the domestic sphere. “Twenty years ago the case of Ana Orantes made us open our eyes as a society and reflect on what was happening, and taught us 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,” he said.
In parallel, he stressed that 20 years later, the case of Gisèle Pelicot has once again put a before and an after “in the fight against the impunity of the rapists and the end of shame for the victims”. “Thanks to his courage, we remember that the search for justice is a collective task,” he said.
“The entire society must value the historic judgment of the Pelicot case. The battle that Gisèle has waged is a commendable example of the struggle for dignity,” he said. “His example of dignity breaks the wall of shame, which changes sides,” he said.
In the words of the Head of Unit, “the courage of Gisèle Pelicot, like that of Ana Orantes 20 years ago, has raised awareness around the world about the importance of eradicating machismo and the negationism of male violence.”
Let shame change sides
Segura has insisted that shame has to change sides “and it has to fall on those who attack, on those who exercise violence, also on those who look the other way.”
For this reason, he said, “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, improving the resources of assistance and protection to victims.”
The Head of Unit pointed out that, faced with the challenge of achieving a society free of violence against women, “we all have a great responsibility”. “We have a mission to accompany the victims and express our absolute rejection of violent attitudes. Against gender violence, all agencies and all institutions have to walk together and in the same direction,” he said.
“Despite the negationist approaches to male violence, we are going to persevere and we are going to continue moving towards a more just, egalitarian and free society of male violence,” he concluded.