The summer of 2023, one of the most tragic in sexist violence in the last 20 years, with 16 murdered

MADRID, 31 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The summer of 2023 has been one of the most tragic in terms of gender violence in the last 20 years, with 16 murdered, and it is confirmed once again that the seasonal factor increases the risk of suffering gender violence, as explained to Europa Press the former delegate of the Government against Gender Violence, Miguel Lorente, after registering in July and August 40% of the total deaths in 2023 (40).

The Ministry of Equality has convened for next Monday, September 4, the crisis committee to analyze the cases of August and has also recalled that during holiday periods the risk increases.

Specifically, in July and August there have been eight cases each month, although the last one is still pending official confirmation by the Government Delegation after a retired police officer who was entrenched since Wednesday morning in Alzira (Valencia) allegedly killed his ex-wife and subsequently took his own life, police sources confirmed to Europa Press. "It can be one of the most serious (summer)," Lorente said.

The figures for these months are the highest in the entire year 2023, since until now it was January, the month in which there is also a holiday period for Christmas, the month that registered the highest number of cases with a total of seven. The rest of the months of the year register lower figures, such as February and March with two deaths, April and June with four and May with five.

To reach data such as those registered up to this August 31, 2023, it is necessary to go back to 2018, when 16 women died due to gender violence in the months of July and August. Also in 2003, 16 deaths were registered in July and August, while 2006 is the year with the most fatalities, with 17.

As Lorente has indicated, the seasonal factors that take place in seasons such as summer or Christmas occur around coexistence, a moment in which "in a more direct way it can affect the perception that the aggressor has of what control is. of the woman".

For all of the above, Lorente has exposed the need to campaign and develop proactive protocols "to be able to start working on everything that is response and prevention and even protection" in the places where the victims are. "They are not only in police stations, nor in the courts, because there the complaints represent 30% of all reality. 100% of battered women, sooner or later, are in the health services and in many social services ", has added.

Regarding the ages in which most of the murders have occurred this year (31-40), he has declared that there is a higher incidence in the age in which the response and conflicts acquire a greater intensity.

However, Lorente has stated that in a general study there is an incidence, both at very high ages and in very young people. "They are nuances that we have to consider, but they are not the factors that define violence," he concluded.

On the other hand, regarding other types of factors that influence sexist murders, he has highlighted the "innovative" term of denialism in gender violence, which, in his opinion, facilitates a "violent response" by the aggressors.

"That emotional charge that has been launched, especially that of the institutions with the denialist message of Vox and supported by the PP with its pacts and with its measures and then promoted by many media, in the end it is charging with anger and is facilitating that violent response from the aggressors," he warned.

Along the same lines, he has pointed out that "right now" there are men who "are thinking about killing their wives", a statement that he has explained that "it may seem outrageous", but that there are those who "are closer" to giving that passed.

Finally, he has shown his concern about the "factor of taking action". "Studies show that there is that reinforcing effect, which is not that someone who is not going to kill or use violence suddenly uses it. It is about someone who is already seriously thinking about killing his wife and is reinforced in his idea when he sees that another man has achieved what he is trying to achieve", he concluded.

Representatives of women's organizations have also described this summer as "tragic" due to the 16 deaths from gender violence during July and August.

The president of the Fundación de Mujeres Progresistas, Yolanda Besteiro, recalled that in periods such as summer or Christmas "there is always an increase in violence because there is more coexistence, then the risk is greater." However, she has assured that, in these seasons, there are also disputes regarding the visits of the children and the delivery and collection during the holiday periods. "It really translates into more violence and a fatal outcome," she lamented.

Likewise, like Lorente, he has underlined the "negative" impact of the denialist message. "It is influencing in a very negative way, both in the aggressors and in the victims. In the aggressors, because they reinforce their position, it leads the victims to mistrust the system and society in general to normalize violence and reduce the importance that it should have and, therefore, to not be so alert", he added.

Regarding the victims, he has warned that one of the difficulties they encounter is that "they do not correctly assess the risk, they think that what they see on television happens to others, but that it will not happen to them, unaware that in gender violence you can go from zero to one hundred in a matter of seconds".

In the same way, he has highlighted the latest data from the Reina Sofía Center on Adolescence and Youth, which show that a fifth of young people under 30 consider that gender violence is "an invention of feminist organizations".

For all this, since the foundation, they have called for campaigns such as those developed by the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), with "impact" and "virulence".

Former deputy Ángeles Álvarez, a member of the Alliance Against the Erasure of Women, has warned that many of the situations in which deaths from sexist violence occur "have to do with malpractice."

Along the same lines, he has given the collection of belongings as an example. "Throughout all these years it has always been indicated that at those times it is convenient to be accompanied by the police or, even that another person do it, or that the absence, in this case, of the other person be negotiated between the lawyers. at home," he added.

In turn, he has stressed the "scarcity of information" that institutional campaigns offer women regarding the behavior they have to have in critical situations, such as at the time of breakup, separation, or divorce. "When someone tells you that they are going to kill you, the chances of that happening are certain," she has warned.

The National Council of Women and Minors Resilient to Gender Violence of Spain has also requested "urgent changes". "We need other policies and other people at the forefront of the fight against sexist violence," its spokesperson, Elena Ramallo, said in a statement.

Finally, he has indicated that, from the collective, they feel that political representatives do not care. "The problems we suffer are many others that nobody cares about. However, millions of euros are thrown away in propaganda while we do not have money for protection," she criticized.