Gender violence leaves more orphaned minors in 2023 than ever since records began, with a total of 56

The Soledad Cazorla Scholarship Fund warns that those over 18 years of age, who are "helpless," remain to be counted.

A total of 56 minors were orphaned in 2023 due to sexist violence, the highest number since records began (2013), although the number would be much higher, up to several hundred, if the oldest children were also counted. 18 years old, according to the Soledad Cazorla Scholarship Fund, which protects these orphaned girls and boys.

According to data from the Government Delegation against Gender Violence, compiled by Europa Press, the year 2023 was the year that left the most orphaned minors due to sexist violence in the last decade, with a total of 56. It is followed by the year 2015, with 51 ; 2019, with 48; 2014, with 43; 2013, with 42; and 2018, with 41.

Furthermore, in 2022, a total of 36 boys and girls will be left without a mother due to gender violence; 32 in 2021; 30 in 2016; 26 in 2017 and 26 in 2020.

The year 2023 ended with 55 women murdered due to gender violence, six more than in 2022, which left 49 fatalities. The last of them corresponds to the confirmation of the case of gender violence of an 80-year-old woman, allegedly murdered by her spouse in A Coruña on December 1. Additionally, as of December 4, there were two cases under investigation in 2023.

Thus, the number of murdered women has reached 1,237 since 2003, when this data began to be collected. Likewise, sexist violence left two minors murdered last year in cases of gender violence against their mother in Spain. In this case, it is one of the years with the fewest deaths since 2013, only behind 2016, when only one death was recorded, and tied with 2022.

The co-promoter of the Soledad Cazorla Scholarship Fund, Joaquín García Cazorla, has pointed out to Europa Press that, beyond "the heartbreaking nature of the figure and the tremendous number" of orphaned children, it must be taken into account that this data "is only refers to minors" leaving those over 18 years of age "forgotten", despite the fact that they also face moments of "a lot of helplessness" after losing their mothers due to gender violence.

According to the data managed by the Soledad Cazorla Scholarship Fund, between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2021 (the year for which data is available), 339 adults were also orphaned.

Furthermore, according to the Report on the first 1,000 cases of fatalities due to gender violence in the sphere of the partner or ex-partner published in May 2020 by the Observatory against Domestic and Gender Violence of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Between January 1, 2003 and April 20, 2019 (the date on which the 1,000th fatality occurred), the number of children who lost their mothers in a murder due to gender violence, regardless of their age, rose to 1,494.

"The information that can be obtained from sources that are unfortunately not unified and that take into account adults and minors, are tremendous, they are much greater," García Cazorla has warned.

Regarding the reasons why the number of minors orphaned by gender violence has increased, the co-promoter of the Scholarship Fund Soledad Cazorla attributes it to the fact that "this year has once again been especially dramatic in terms of female victims mortals." Furthermore, she points out that the fact that the number of minor orphans is increasing is "indicative" that gender violence is "a scourge" that "also affects young women."

The Soledad Cazorla Scholarship Fund is a project promoted by the family of Soledad Cazorla, the first courtroom prosecutor against violence against women, and managed by the Women Foundation, which was born with the objective of making visible and improving the situation of orphans due to gender violence.

The scholarships managed from this Fund are intended to try to repair the damage that these boys and girls have suffered, through financial aid aimed at facilitating the development of university studies or access to educational or psychological reinforcement services that they may need. .

Joaquín García Cazorla has indicated that these children and young people who are orphaned as a result of the murder of their mothers at the hands of their partners or ex-partners, "face profound helplessness" both "economically" - due to all the procedures they have to carry out. , from the criminal procedure derived from the murder of their mothers, to the administrative procedures to obtain the aid to which they are entitled--, as "informative", all of this in a "moment of tremendous pain."

Furthermore, they have identified that "the entire shield, the coverage that has been put in place" to protect these orphans "has often forgotten about the adults" who are equally "helpless" from one day to the next, especially all, those who are between 18 and 25 years old and are "in that initial stage of their adult life", in which they are still studying and do not yet work or cannot generate enough resources on their own to live.

"Those of legal age are left in a situation of uncertainty," warns García Cazorla, while pointing out that "some aid that exists at the level of the autonomous communities is only proposed up to the age of 18, a stage of special risk of social exclusion." ".