"Violence against women is a matter of general interest that affects fundamental rights and public liberties recognized in the Constitution. It is a matter of State," said the minister. In his speech, he has shown his "strongest condemnation" of this type of violence and the obligation of the institutions to "accompany the victims". For Valerio, there must be and cannot exist in our society "any kind of wink, nor of complicity of the institutions nor of the citizenship regarding violence against women".
"Unfortunately, lately we go back to a denial of this violence that clashes frontally with the broken lives of murdered women, their sons and daughters and family," he said.
Magdalena Valerio wanted to remember the victims of this "social scourge". "The numbers of murders of women are unbearable," he said. 1,027 women have been murdered in Spain at the hands of their partner or ex-partner since 2003 and "in 2019, the figure already rises to 51 women, who have left 43 orphans and orphans under 18". In her speech, the minister has had a special memory for the woman killed today in Tenerife, which, if confirmed, would be victim 52 for sexist violence in 2019.
Despite these data, Magdalena Valerio has sent a message of hope. "Most women have managed to get out of this violence and, in many cases, have done so thanks to the protection and support of institutions and society."
Valerio has valued both the Comprehensive Protection Measures Against Gender Violence Act of 2004, approved unanimously in Congress, as the 2017 State Pact against Gender Violence, adopted by Congress and the Senate and in which contributions from autonomous communities and specialized civil society organizations were collected. "Our society has modified its perception and many of its attitudes towards violence against women" thanks, among other things, to these initiatives. "All public administrations, as well as civil society organizations and organizations, develop multiple joint efforts."
Minister Valerio recalled that the Council of Ministers approved a Government Declaration on the occasion of this International Day, promoted by the United Nations in 1981 to commemorate the murder of the Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic. In the Declaration, it is assumed that "we all have a great responsibility" in the face of the challenge of achieving a society free of violence against women. "We have the mission of accompanying the victims and of expressing our most absolute rejection of violent attitudes," the minister paraphrased.
As for the latest initiatives implemented by his ministry, Valerio explained that "in 2019 the Law 3/2019, to improve the orphanage situation of the daughters and sons of victims of gender violence and other forms of violence against women, to prevent them from being outside the institutional protection system. "
The minister also mentioned the recently signed protocol between the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Social Security and the Data Protection Agency, various agencies and ministries, which aims to prevent harassment that is done through the dissemination of images , videos or audios with sensitive data.
"Despite all the resources and actions deployed, we, the women, as well as our daughters, still need to vindicate ourselves, and say that we do not have to be brave to live in freedom. We simply want to live and we want to be free," has said.