The Spanish Parliament on Wednesday unanimously adopted a law to protect women from domestic violence, following the deaths of more than 40 women in attacks by their partners so far this year.
The new legislation, adopted in an extraordinary session, amends Spain’s criminal code and provides immediate protection and financial assistance to women lodging complaints within a maximum
72 hours of a reported attack or as soon as a judge makes an order
to that effect.
Last year, according to official figures, 52 women were killed in cases of conjugal violence — a figure contested by women’s groups who say the true figure was nearer 70.
Feminist groups had previously decried low jail terms for most of the men responsible for the attacks while many were merely handed suspended sentences or fined.
Women’s groups also complained that many cases involving criminal macho behaviour took around a year on average to come to court.
Wednesday’s vote was carried by 272 votes for to none against as deputies sent out a strong message to would-be perpetrators of conjugal violence, providing for them to be placed in preventative detention in the most serious cases.
Less serious cases would see men swiftly served with exclusion orders banning them from contact with their partner while also banning them from the family home and rescinding their right of custody to the couple’s children.
The legislation, which takes effect next week, makes available â,¬300 ($345) a month in state aid for women victims. Spanish legislators agreed that conjugal violence was increasingly becoming a blot on society and required a coordinated response from all sectors of public life.
Justice Minister Jose Maria Michavila, having called on all parties to reach a consensus on the need to meet the issue head on, accepted the need for a clearer framework to deal with spousal abuse, as already existed for abuse of minors.
”We are out to make justice more sensitive and effective regarding the protection of victims of violence,” said Michavila.
This year, women’s groups and police differ as to the number of deaths but both put the figure from January to June at more than 40, the latest two fatalities coming only last weekend.
Some women’s groups put the 2003 figure so far at 53, though they use a wider definition of what constitutes a domestic killing as opposed to a simple murder.
Shocked by the statistics — and by the fact that last year Spanish women reported 30 000 complaints of domestic violence to police — political parties agreed to delay their parliamentary summer recess to debate the issue now rather than after the holiday period.
On Tuesday, several women’s groups said they believed tightening the law will make little difference, with feminist sociologist Carmen Lavina pointing to a lack of sufficient refuge houses considering the vast number of accusations lodged with police.
Lavina’s criticism took on added weight after the case of a woman found strangled Sunday in Santander, a sleepy northern coastal town. The woman had made several accusations against her partner in the past without the authorities taking heed.
That case finally breached the political divide after the opposition Socialist Party on Monday blamed the government for backpedalling while the governing conservatives from Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar’s Popular Party said amendments submitted by the Socialists had thrown spanners in the works.
In a further development surrounding the Santander case, police said a 33-year-old man alleged to have killed his partner of 13 years by strangling her with a length of nylon had planned the attack two weeks earlier, suspecting that she was having an affair. – Sapa-AFP