The Security Forces and the Corps alerted the prosecutor’s office and the judiciary. One thousand one hundred seventy-seven boys and girls in Spain are at risk due to abuse directed at their mothers. By the end of May, the VioGén system logged 812 underage children at risk, a 45% rise from the previous year.
The Interior Ministry recently released statistics on victims of gender-based violence, revealing a higher number of minors directly exposed to abuse: 1,177 children whose mothers face a risk of harm from their abuser. This marks a 22.7% increase from the start of 2023 and a 4.3% rise from the prior month, April. Among these minors, 5 were in extreme or fatal danger; 133 were high risk, and 1,039 were in the medium category.
When authorities determine a minor is at risk, a routine review is automatically initiated with the prosecutor’s office and the courts to assess the situation and implement immediate and appropriate safeguards.
Indirect violence
Since police began evaluating the status of children living in homes where their mothers faced gender-based violence in March 2019, 3,161 cases have been identified as at risk, including 836 in the extreme category and 2,325 in the high category.
Indirect violence is often considered the most brutal form of sexist violence. It involves the abuser using third parties, especially minors, to harm the victim. Since 2013, Spain has witnessed the deaths of 49 children at the hands of fathers, partners of mothers, or ex-partners.
Among the 77,666 active gender violence cases tracked by VioGén at the end of May, nearly half involved underage dependent women, totaling 38,986.
Interior also monitors the risk environments that minors face, particularly those living in households where they have witnessed violence against their mothers.
There are 9,054 vulnerable children identified, reported by the Fernando Grande-Marlaska department. This is 20% higher than May 2022 and 5.6% higher than the end of last year.
Of the more than 9,000 children deemed vulnerable to violence, 3 were in extreme danger; 111 were high risk; 1,299 were medium risk; and 3,964 were classified as low risk.
According to the 2019 Violence Against Women Macro Survey, the most recent data available, 1.68 million boys and girls live in homes in Spain where a molester has attacked their mother.
654,761 victims
Latest figures from the VioGén system show that Interior has recorded 654,761 female victims, a 7.5% increase from May 2022.
There are 77,666 active cases, representing just over 10% of the total 748,450 cases handled by the State Security Forces and Bodies to date.
Active cases have grown 9.2% compared with May 2022 (when there were 71,075) and 3.3% versus the end of 2022.
Considering case severity, with regard to the risk of renewed attack by the same offender, 20 cases were at extreme or fatal risk; 1,206 at high risk; 11,558 at medium risk; and 33,648 at low risk.
As of May 4, 666,759 offenders are listed on VioGén, with nearly 10% having abused more than one victim. Of these, 63,049 offenders are persistent and pose a high risk to women.
Despite the magnitude and the upward trend in reporting, the gender violence phenomenon remains underreported in many cases: only about 30% of victims seek help, while the remaining 70% suffer in silence.
Reports of sexist violence can be filed with the State Security Forces and Bodies or directly in the courts. Victims can also seek assistance from the social services of their local town hall or autonomous community.