Violence against women highest in Balearics

More than 29,000 women proved to be victims of male violence in the first quarter of this year, there having been a slight decrease in the number of actual complaints reported (more than 30,000).  These are figures that come from the Judicial Observatory Against Domestic and Gender Violence, and its president, Ángeles Carmona, says that they are not acceptable in a society where there is meant to be equality and respect for human rights.
Of these “denuncias”, 68% were made by the victim, directly through the courts or via the police, while direct intervention by police represented some 15%. Only a very small number of reports were made by relatives of a victim: 2% in all. The level of convictions for mistreatment increased to 7,216, while there were 9,683 protection orders.
The average national ratio of victims of male violence per 10,000 women stood at 13.2. There is a black mark for the Balearics, as here the ratio is the highest in Spain (20), followed by Murcia with 19. Regions such as the Basque Country and Extremadura have the lowest ratios - just above eight. Carmona says that the data show that there continues to be major social ills in Spanish democratic society and has called for there to be greater effort in terms of co-ordination between authorities and greater involvement of society itself in tackling the problems. There was praise, however, for the increase in the number of convictions for abusers. “This is important as it proves that the justice system works and there will be no impunity for gender violence.”