The messages questioning the essence of gender violence, the role of women and their children and the nature of sexual assaults that have been spread everywhere for years, especially on social networks, have penetrated the general population and , especially in the youngest. It has been happening for years but little or nothing has been done about it, beyond saying that ‘denialism kills’. But misinformation has spread uncontrollably, undermining the fight against this scourge. Now, the Government, aware of this reality, has decided to counterattack and has announced awareness campaigns through all media, although with special emphasis on social networks.
This was indicated by the Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, in the press conference after the Council of Ministers, where she reported on the meeting of the plenary session of the State Observatory of Violence against Women, chaired by Pedro Sánchez, in which They analyzed the short, medium and long-term challenges and new measures have been studied. This meeting has taken place after the rise in sexist murders and murders of children at the hands of their parents: 10 murdered women and 7 children since the beginning of the year.
The loss of awareness was already pointed out by the Court of Accounts, which in its Report on the supervision of actions for the comprehensive prevention of gender violence 2018-2022, published last year, already detected it as one of the main challenges ” achieve greater awareness in the use of the Internet and new technologies among young people.
“Countering disinformation” is not the only measure agreed yesterday by the Observatory, with the participation of a large part of the Government, autonomous communities, the judiciary and civil society. Training will also be reinforced for agents involved in helping and protecting victims of gender violence. And he specifically mentioned judges and prosecutors, since “failures” have been detected in the knowledge of this very sensitive matter.
And extend once and for all the forensic assessment units of gender violence courts, which many lack. And those that exist, Redondo has acknowledged, are not well equipped.
The minister has reported the distribution of 160 million euros to communities destined to the fight against gender violence. The distribution of the amounts will be finalized at the next Sectoral Equality Conference, scheduled for April 29.
Of the total amount, 140.2 million euros are allocated to the development of the State Pact against Gender Violence. They will therefore be used to finance programs to combat gender violence, which must be promoted by the communities. Through this finalist fund, the Government “guarantees its economic commitment to guarantee the stability and permanence of public policies and services derived from the State Pact against Gender Violence.”