The Diplomat
Spanish Consular Offices abroad dealt with a total of 260 new cases of violence against women last year, according to data provided yesterday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
These 260 cases refer to the opening of new files (one for each Spanish woman attended), so that to this computation should be added the attention to cases in which consular assistance had been initiated previously. 90% of the cases correspond to cases of violence by the partner or ex-partner, 8% to violence of a sexual nature and the remaining 2% to other cases of violence according to the Istanbul Convention, according to a Foreign Affairs communiqué.
The repatriation of 20 Spanish women of legal age and 15 minors has also been carried out. In these cases, direct material assistance has been provided. On the other hand, restrictions on movement as a result of the current health crisis have also made it difficult for Spanish women victims of violence to leave the country by their own means, for which reason the Consular Offices have also carried out a number of support measures, such as requests for special authorizations or assistance in the management of PCR tests.
The press release points out that, in the last two years, the Ministry has set out to improve the consular assistance provided to victims abroad, a group that is more vulnerable as they are far from their family environment and in a cultural context that is often alien to them. With this objective, the figure of Coordinator of Violence against Women Abroad was created in May 2019 in the Directorate General of Spaniards Abroad and Consular Affairs. Since then, specific training on the subject has been provided to civil servant staff posted abroad and to new promotions of diplomats.
A psychological assistance service has also been set up in Spanish at a distance and an agreement has been signed between the MAEC and the Foundation with the General Council of Spanish Lawyers to provide free legal assistance to Spanish women who are considering returning to our country, among other initiatives.
Within the framework of the 2015 Interministerial Action Protocol for the Care of Spanish Women Victims of Gender Violence Abroad, collaboration has been strengthened with the Government Delegation against Gender Violence and with the Departments of Labor, Social Security and Migration, through different communication and training actions.
On January 25, the Joint Follow-up Commission of the Protocol approved the annual Action Plan for 2021, which includes 19 measures to improve the coordination, training and public information of this service.
