Gender violence concerns addressed

ATTENTION for women who have been victims of gender violence and may be at risk due to being in confinement as a result of the coronavirus has been stepped up by the regional government.

Regional vice-president Mónica Oltra said on Friday that women who have made allegations of gender violence having to stay in a house with their alleged aggressor is one of the issues that concerns them. She explained that since March 13, the regional department for equality has been making additional telephone calls to all victims so that they can check on them.

Urgent cases that may require immediate attention are being dealt with in person, either at the emergency centres in Castellón, Valencia and Alicante or the recovery centres located in the region. Resources have been prepared in case over the coming days there is an increase in victims who need to be admitted with their children to a specific centre, so that they can get away from their abuser, especially those when there has not been a previous accusation but the situation is a risk because there is no protection order in place, she explained.

Emergency measures to manage social services for the most vulnerable people have also been made available to the regional equality department. As a result, the regional government can make use of all social and social-health resources in the region, including their personnel, even if they are from other public authorities or private organisations. They will make use of these gradually and according to need. Social services have to attend to a population at high risk of contagion from the coronavirus, she said.

For this reason it is necessary to mobilise all available material and human resources to be able to attend to, prevent and combat the expansion of the illness and protect the most vulnerable people.