The number of complaints of gender violence in our city has stabilized in the year 2024, with a slight increase of 3.47% (11 more complaints) compared to the year 2023, as evidenced by the data released today by the Head of the Coordination Unit Against Violence Against Women, Laura Segura.
Segura has revealed that the year 2024 has been closed with a total of 328 complaints in Melilla. The quarterly evolution is as follows: the first quarter closed with 77 complaints; 81 in the second quarter; 95 in the third; and 75 in the fourth quarter. In addition, he added that in the current period of 2025 “the average number of complaints registered in 2024 is maintained”, data that is pending updating.
Calls to 016
Regarding the analysis of the use of existing State services on gender violence in the city of Melilla, Segura has explained that, since the launch of the 016-Telephone Service of information and legal advice on gender violence in September 2007 and until December 31, 2024, 2,149 relevant calls have been received in Melilla.
“From January 1 to December 31, 2024, 157 calls have been received, of which 119 were made by the user herself (75.79%), 27 by relatives or close relatives (17.19%), 11 by others or not recorded (7%),” she said. “The total represents an increase of 19.85% compared to the year 2023 in which 131 calls were registered,” he said.
The Head of the Unit has pointed out that since March 2021, calls to 016 include those related to other forms of violence (in addition to those related to gender violence), and that partner or ex-partner violence also includes sexual violence in that area.
In addition, it has revealed that, according to the rest of the consultation modalities (via WhatsApp, emails and chats), the number of pertinent consultations made since the implementation of the services is 2,183. “In the year 2024 they rise to 168, since to the relevant calls would be added 7 queries via WhatsApp and 4 through chat,” he said.
ATENPRO and VioGen
In her speech, the Head of the Unit provided data on the number of users of the Telephone Service for Care and Protection for Victims of Gender Violence (ATENPRO) from 2005 to 31 December 2024, which was 310, with 231 stops.
“The year or 2024 closes in December with 16 active users, which is a decrease of 15.79% compared to the year 2023, when there were 19 users of this service,” he stressed.
As for the active cases in VioGén, according to the data of December, published on the website of the Ministry of the Interior in its monthly statistics, Melilla closed the year with 237 active cases. Segura has detailed the distribution by risks, being: 117 the active cases of unappreciated risk, 104 of low irrigation, 15 of medium risk, 1 high risk and none of extreme risk.
“To the 237 cases active in the VioGen System in Melilla as of December 31, 2024, we must add the 2,328 cases inactivated from 2007 to this date, which makes a total of 2,565 total cases and 2,374 total victims in our City from 2007 to the present,” he said. “We are talking about women who have at some point been abused and have required protection of some kind,” he said.
The number of 237 active cases as of December 31, 2024, represents an increase of 5.33% compared to December 2023, in which there were 225. Of these 237 active cases, there are 163 cases with minors, of which 26 are in a vulnerable situation and 6 in cases of special relevance.
Police Protection and Protective Orders
With regard to the number of women with protection, Segura has indicated that, as of December 31, 2024, there were 120 active cases with an appreciable level of risk, which represents an increase of 6.19% compared to December 2023, where there were 113.
As for the number of protection orders and measures for gender violence from January to September 2024, according to data from the General Council of the Judiciary, it is a total of 70 orders initiated, of which 63 were adopted and 7 were denied.
Regarding the number of inmates who have served sentences in penitentiaries with crimes of gender violence, the Head of the Unit has detailed that there were 19 at the end of the year 2024, compared to the 12 with which it was closed in 2023.
With regard to the granting of temporary residence and work permits for foreign women victims of gender-based violence per year of resolution, 10 permits were granted in 2024, compared to 11 in 2023.
Shelters
Laura Segura has also disclosed the data regarding the shelters for female victims and their sons and daughters. “During this year 2024, in the two resources managed by the Red Cross, 48 people have been served (21 women, 13 girls and 14 boys), while in the reception apartment managed by Women in Equality, 32 people have been served, 10 women and 22 minors,” he said.
Deadly victims
The Head of the Unit has referred to the fact that in Melilla there have been no fatalities due to gender violence since 2016, accounting for 5 women killed since 2005.
At the national level, in 2024, 48 women were killed by their partners or former partners and 36 children orphaned and orphaned by gender violence. In addition, 9 minors have been killed, killed, to cause the greatest harm to their mothers.
“To date, 1,296 women have been murdered by their partners or former partners since official figures were obtained, and 62 children have been killed since boys and girls began to be counted as victims of gender-based violence,” she said. “There are 474 minors who have been orphaned and orphaned by the murder of their mothers,” he said.
Hidden violence
Laura Segura has stressed that “most of the gender-based violence is hidden and not denounced and emphasized that it is necessary, the detection of this structural violence, which is male violence from other areas such as social services, educational centers or health care.
“We must continue to make progress in improving detection mechanisms and prevention, as well as strengthen confidence in the system and counteract the denial discourse that jeopardizes the progress made and puts women’s lives at risk,” he said.
Whole society commitment
“Faced with the challenge of achieving a society free of violence against women, we all have a great responsibility,” he said. “We have to express our absolute rejection of violent attitudes,” he said.
In the words of the Head of Unit, “we need the commitment of society as a whole, in the construction of a more just society and free of gender violence, in the accompaniment of all women, girls and children victims of male violence, and in the remembrance of those who are no longer there, their family and social environments, and all the survivors.”