“The fight against gender violence is a State policy, an absolute priority for this Government and for this Ministry.” The Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, made her first institutional visit to Melilla on Thursday, in a day focused on the comprehensive approach to violence against women
The head of the Ministry stressed “the objective is zero violence; as a democracy our objective is to walk towards a society free of violence towards women, free of sexual violence, free of gender violence”.
Upon her arrival, she held a working meeting in the Government Delegation together with the highest representative of the Government of Spain in our city, Sabrina Moh; the Government Delegate against Gender Violence, Carmen Martínez; the Secretary General of the Delegation, Sana Abdeslam; and the head of the Coordination Unit against Violence against Women, Laura Segura.
The Minister of Equality has been in charge of placing the distinctive Violet Point on the door of the institutional headquarters, a symbol that identifies the safe spaces involved in the fight against male violence, where victims can receive attention, support and information.
Crisis center 24 hours
Redondo has highlighted the work of the 24-hour Comprehensive Care Center for victims of sexual violence in Melilla, one of the first to be opened within the framework of the deployment of these resources throughout Spain. “This center works, it is useful and necessary. It has already served more than 50 women and offered psychosocial care to more than 250. It’s a center of reference,” he said.
The minister acknowledged that “we are especially pleased that Melilla was one of the first cities to have this center, which is already operating at full capacity. We like, as always, to recognize the good work and set as an example those centers that are performing a quality service to women victims of sexual violence.” In addition, he insisted that “the fight against gender violence is a fight for everyone, and the tasks of institutional collaboration are essential.”
In this regard, he recalled that the Government of Spain has launched a total of 59 crisis centers throughout the country, with the aim of making them all operational by June 30. “The collaboration with autonomous communities, municipalities and institutions has been intense and has borne fruit,” he said.
Interinstitutional collaboration
The head of Equality has attended the meeting of the Interinstitutional Bureau, in which representatives of different institutions, associations and social entities involved in the fight against male violence have participated. In this sense, he has highlighted the effort of collaboration and getting to know “at first hand” all the units that work, “precisely to free our society from male violence, from gender violence”.
“Institutional coordination is essential to continue moving forward. We need to strengthen ties and synergies that allow us to move forward and achieve the objectives,” he stressed.
Redondo recalled that Melilla has received more than 600,000 euros from the State Pact against Gender Violence, resources that allow concrete actions to be implemented “to address gender violence”.
“With all this battery of measures, with all this effort, with all this coordination, as I say, we continue to move towards a more democratic, freer, fairer society and, of course, where women can feel safe and feel, as I say, protected and accompanied at all times,” he concluded.