Justice is taking more and more steps to protect minors from any potential danger, including, logically, cases in which there is physical or psychological abuse by one partner towards the other or towards the children.
Proof of this is that, according to the quarterly data just made public by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), during the second quarter of this 2022 the number of cases in which measures of suspension of visitation to minors due to abuse were adopted increased by 329 percent compared to the second quarter of 2021.
The bad news is that the number of abuse cases also increased, although this is related to a parallel increase in complaints.
Thus, it is possible that pre-existing cases of abuse that were hidden may have surfaced.
Specifically, the latter figure grew by 10 percent compared to the same period in 2021.
The Annual Report on Gender Violence of the Observatory against Domestic and Gender Violence of the CGPJ, from which these significant figures are extracted, also reveals that, from April 1 to June 30, 1,193 measures consisting of the suspension of the visiting regime were adopted by the judicial bodies (43.2 percent more than in the first quarter of 2022), as a result of the application by judges of the reform of the Organic Law for the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents.
This reform brought with it a modification of article 544 ter of the Criminal Procedure Law, establishing the suspension of visits “when a protection order with measures of criminal content is issued and there are well-founded indications that the minor children have witnessed, suffered or coexisted” with gender violence. As for the number of victims, the CGPJ’s quarterly data also reveals an increase in this figure: they amounted to 44,543, 10.89 percent more than in the same period of 2021.
65.98 percent were Spanish, a figure that has remained constant, with slight variations, for years.
There was also an increase in the number of complaints, which rose by 12.33 percent, registering a total of 45,743.
Victims filed seven out of ten complaints; families, 1.77 percent; and assistance services and third parties, 3.86 percent.
It is worth celebrating, as the president of the Observatory, Ángeles Carmona, recalls, that “more and more women are raising their voices when they suffer gender-based violence and decide to report the facts at the police station or in court”. Finally, the data also reveal a slight decrease in the number of women who avail themselves of the exemption from the obligation to testify against their aggressor.
During the second quarter of this year, a total of 4,167 women victims of gender violence availed themselves of the exemption, which represents 9.36 percent of the total, compared to 10.53 percent in the previous period.
In the same quarter, the judicial bodies handed down 15,359 sentences, of which 76.84 percent were convictions.
A total of 12,502 protection orders were also issued, 69.28 percent of those requested.
Gender violence vs. domestic violence
From our family law firm we firmly believe that it is very important to exercise a didactic work and explain key concepts, especially when it comes to assert your rights and know when it is possible to denounce.
That is why, among many other things, it is important to know the difference between domestic violence and gender violence, the latter being the one referred to in the above data.
Domestic violence is that which occurs in the home and, therefore, can be exercised by any member of the family against another: children, grandparents, partner… For example, domestic violence is that exercised by a father or mother against their child, or that of a grandchild against his or her grandparent or parents.
Violence by a man against a woman in the domestic sphere can be considered domestic violence when there is no gender element involved, i.e. when the motive for the violence is not the alleged superiority of the man over the woman.
Thus, we come to the definition of gender-based violence, which is that which occurs against women simply because they are women, and can occur both inside and outside the home.
Its root is precisely the alleged superiority of one sex over the other, and includes many cases (also outside the home): the most obvious are cases of physical abuse, but this concept also encompasses psychological abuse, sexual violence… Thus, gender violence encompasses any violent act or aggression, based on a situation of inequality, within the framework of a system of relations of domination of men over women that has or may have as a consequence physical, sexual or psychological harm, including threats of such acts and coercion or arbitrary deprivation of freedom, whether they occur in the public sphere or in family or personal life.
- Physical violence includes any act of force against a woman’s body that results in or risks producing physical injury or damage: hitting, burning, pinching, hair pulling, biting, pushing, throwing objects, use of weapons, strangulation attempts, murder attempts, attempts to provoke abortions… Physical abuse is the most obvious and the easiest to prove.
- Psychologicalviolence ,
includes any behavior, verbal or nonverbal, that produces devaluation or suffering in the woman: insults (expressions such as “you are crazy”, “you are hysterical”, “you are ignorant”, “ugly”…); belittling (“you are good for nothing”, “you do nothing right”, “if it weren’t for me where would you go”….); intimidation or threats (“I’m going to kill you”, “get out of the house”, “I’m going to take your children away from you”, “I’m going to ruin you”…); abuse of authority (going through your things, your cell phone, your mail, harassing you with questions about what you have done…); disrespect (not respecting your needs, feelings, opinions or wishes; manipulating what you say, destroying objects of special value to you, ignoring your presence, disowning you in front of third parties…); or demanding obedience (for example, not wanting you to work, forcing you to dress in a certain way, limiting your friendships or contacts, limiting your freedom of movement….), among other things. - Sexual violence and economic violence (which includes the intentional and not legally justified deprivation of resources for the physical or psychological well-being of the woman and her children) or discrimination in the disposition of resources shared within the scope of the couple’s cohabitation may also constitute gender-based violence.
Judgment of suspension of visitation regime due to gender-based violence
As an example, the Supreme Court has very recently issued a decision in judgment suspending visitation between a father convicted of gender violence and his four-year-old daughter. Among other things, the judgment explains that the father shall, “if he has a serious and real purpose to communicate with his daughter, control her impulses and her situation of dominance derived from a gender violence not overcome, which constitutes a bad model and a manifest obstacle of suitability to perform the parental role, with respect to a four year old girl”. These are phrases and principles that give us hope, because they indicate that, fortunately, justice is increasingly on the side of the victims, with new protection tools for the most affected parties.
If you know of any case of this type or you are involved in this type of relationship, get informed as soon as possible and take the necessary steps to protect yourself and denounce.
From our law firm we can help you to get custody of your children and to achieve a breakup in which you feel protected.
