Domestic violence back to pre-pandemic levels and Valencia has the second-highest rate in the country

The number of victims of domestic violence has risen by 23.9% in the second trimester of 2021.

According to a report by the Observatory against Domestic and Gender Violence published on Friday, levels are now back to pre-pandemic numbers

In total, between April and June of this year, 5,589 victims (3,450 Spanish and 2,139 of other nationalities) were registered in the courts, compared to the 4,510 registered a year earlier.

It must be noted that the year before, much of this trimester covered the lockdown period, when reporting domestic violence was more difficult.

By provinces, Valencia had the highest number of cases, 3,059, Alicante recorded 2,104 and Castellón the lowest at 426. These figures place the Valencian Community as the autonomous region with the second highest rate in the country in number of victims of gender violence per 10,000 women (21.8) , only behind the Balearic Islands (25.7) and more than five points above the national average (16.6).

Courts which deal with violence against women received 14% more complaints in the second trimester and during this time 1,421 protection orders were requested, of which 1,031 were accepted. The number of convictions was more than double that of last year, a total of 840, compared to 388 in 2020.

And this increase in complaints and sentencing has pros and cons, according to the associations that work with victims of domestic violence. Speaking on Cadema Ser radio, Chelo Álvarez, president of Alanna (an organisation of professional women against domestic abuse), explains that it is good news that the violence accumulated during confinement has emerged, but on the other hand it is a sign of the seriousness of this structural problem.

But it is also true, recalls Chelo Álvarez, the hell of the victims does not end with the complaint, far from it: a long, cumbersome journey begins, in which they do not always feel accompanied and believed. That is why there is so much work to be done, to avoid revictimization and avoid the institutional violence that is sometimes exerted on these women.

“But it is also true”, recalls Chelo Álvarez, “that the hell of the victims does not end with the complaint, far from it: a long, cumbersome journey begins, in which they do not always feel accompanied and believed. That is why there is so much work to be done, to avoid revictimization and avoid the institutional violence that is sometimes exerted on these women.”