More than two decades ago, Spain embarked on reforms to curb violence against women. It is now considered a model for other European countries.

Spain is a pioneer when it comes to combatting gender-based violence. The comprehensive legislation and extensive data collection system the country has put in place have become benchmarks for foreign policymakers seeking solutions to this problem.

The system has been a work in progress for more than two decades, originating at a time when gender-based violence didn’t exist for society at large or was shrugged off as “crimes of passion.”

The issue exploded into the national spotlight in 1997 when Andalusian Ana Orantes suddenly gave a face, a name and a voice to this pervasive issue: The 60-year-old appeared on the Canal Sur TV program "De tarde en tarde" and recounted the hell she had endured for 40 years at the hands of her abusive husband, Jose Parego.

Just 13 days after her television appearance, Parego brutally murdered her.

The case shocked the nation. During the following years, Orantes became a national symbol, and her case contributed to the promotion of legislative reforms that would make Spain a leader in the adoption and implementation of public policies to combat gender-based violence linked to partners or former partners.

The most high-profile reform is the 2004 Comprehensive Law against Gender-Based Violence, often referred to as the piece de resistance in Spain’s success.

François Kempf is a member of the secretariat of the European Council’s Group of Experts on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), which monitors member states’ compliance with the Istanbul Convention, a human rights treaty opposing violence against women and domestic violence.

“Spain’s comprehensive approach is pioneering in the fight against gender-based violence,” he says.

It is underpinned by the 2004 law, which has been complemented by “subsequent modifications of existing laws and policies that have demonstrated commitment at the highest political level, with the intention of mobilizing society toward the furthering of this objective.”

Although measures such as new regulations regarding restraining orders were approved during the government of Jose María Aznar’s Popular Party, it was Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s PSOE government that constructed the comprehensive framework that is in place today.

The law established the basis for an entire system that provides protection and care for victims through specialized courts, social and employment assistance, psychological help, information and counseling services.

The law’s preamble also sets forth a critical advance: the recognition of gender-based violence as an issue that not only “affects the private sphere” but also constitutes “a brutal symbol of inequality” between men and women, inflicted on the latter “for the very fact of being women.”

Noelia Igareda, a philosophy of law professor and gender expert at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, explains why this is so important.

“There is no denying that Spain, in comparative terms, has become a point of international reference on this issue. What tends to mark the difference between Spain and other countries is that we explicitly use the term gender-based violence, whereas in other member states, such as Germany, it is still referred to as domestic violence and, therefore, remains exclusively linked to the family sphere. ... Re-naming the issue is a crucial step forward, as it gives a glimpse of the wider structural and societal issues driving it.”

Specialized data collection is another key aspect that sets Spain apart from its peers. Officially launched in 2003, data collection originally tracked only the deaths of women at the hands of their male partners or former partners—more than 1,200 to date.

Other systems have since been put in place to log detailed information relating to claims, sentences and protection orders as well.

Teresa Nevado, a former member of the executive committee of the European Women’s Lobby and current secretary-general of the Spanish delegation, says, “We started recording specific data at a time when other countries did not. And many of them did not have then, nor do they have now, a comprehensive law such as we do to confront gender-based violence.”

Foreign delegations seeking to learn more about the Spanish system have become commonplace. Since 2019, for example, the VioGen System, which police use to conduct risk assessments for victims and subsequent monitoring, has attracted visitors from France, Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine, Germany, Britain, Egypt, Switzerland, Turkey and other countries.

Visitors are also curious to learn more about Spain’s dedicated 016 victim helpline, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and its “control bracelets” for abusers. During their stay, many delegates also meet with members of the Government Delegation against Gender-Based Violence.

GREVIO’s Kempf says that the Spanish government’s coordinated response to gender-based violence is yet another of its distinctive aspects; this includes an extensive network of services available on regional and municipal levels as well as specialized courts and police units.

But what really sets Spain apart, he says, is its comprehensive approach and the recognition of “the gendered nature” of certain types of violence “many years before” the Istanbul Convention entered into force in August 2014.

A 2020 GREVIO review noted that it is precisely this lack of gender perspective in the investigation of crimes against women that is a failing of countries such as Belgium, France, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Portugal and Serbia.

Spain has had to overcome numerous obstacles to get to where it is today and it still faces challenges. After the passage of the 2004 Comprehensive Law, numerous legal appeals claimed that the legislation discriminated against men.

These objections continue to this day, despite the fact that the Constitutional Court upheld the law in 2008. And experts say there is still a long road ahead before Spain reaches the point where it can offer full protection and support for victims of gender-based violence.

In a 2020 evaluation, for example, GREVIO highlighted Spain’s “deficiencies” when it comes to “the safety of women and children” and victims of gender violence when deciding custody or visitation rights.

The United Nations has also pointed out this issue, blaming the Spanish judicial system for failing to protect minors from “abusive fathers.”

However, the greatest concern is Spain’s lack of protection for victims of gender-based violence that does not involve a partner or former partner, both in terms of support and psychological help.

For Igareda, Spain undoubtedly has “unfinished business,” and she continues to push for public policy that exists on paper “to be deployed in its entirety.”

“What we have in writing is very advanced, but it must be accompanied by resources, training in gender perspective, assistance to victims and minors and reparations. Victims must be heard, listened to and believed, something that is not happening today,” she says.

GREVIO is due to issue another report on Spain this year, assessing the measures that have been put into place since the country’s last evaluation, focusing in particular on the issue of “building trust by providing support, protection and justice to victims.”

These measures include the outgoing Ministry of Equality’s “only yes means yes” law and the creation of a comprehensive care framework for victims of sexual abuse.

Services such as 016 have also been extended to encompass other forms of male violence; all femicides are now officially registered whether or not they occur within a couple; and allegations of Parental Alienation Syndrome are no longer admitted in court.

The 2021 renewal of the State Pact Against Gender-Based Violence represents further progress; this groundbreaking agreement was supported by all major parties with the exception of Vox.

The far right has consistently denied the existence of gender-based violence and continues to demand the repeal of the 2004 Comprehensive Law. The party has become stronger in recent years, and although Vox has fewer representatives in Congress today than it did four years ago, it has made significant inroads in regional autonomous governments and city councils with the help of the Partido Popular.

Although the PP supported the Pact, it has appeased far-right allies by recently signing agreements with Vox that support, at least in part, its denialist discourse.

It remains to be seen how all of this will play out, but experts warn that these developments constitute a genuine threat.

“Given that the far right can make decisions affecting public spending in regional and local governments, they can also decide not to invest or to decrease investment in the network of assistance, protection and public services,” says Igareda. “They are denying the existence of gender-based violence; obviously that will have an impact.”

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This publication is part of the “Towards Equality” Sparknews-led program, a collaborative alliance of 16 international news outlets highlighting the challenges and solutions to reach gender equality.