Spanish embassies and consulates attended to 251 new cases of violence against Spanish women in 2022. In most cases, as in previous years, this was violence perpetrated by their partner or ex-partner. Furthermore, last year 14 women and 6 minors were repatriated and provided with direct material aid.
In addition to the 251 women assisted as victims of gender-based violence, attention was also provided to those cases in which consulate assistance had been initiated previously. In total, between 2021 and 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assisted 500 women and repatriated another 30 women and 16 minors.
In 2022, three out of four (73%) of the cases recorded were cases of violence by a partner or ex-partner, 17% were violence of a sexual nature, and the remaining 10% were cases of other forms of violence, such as marriages of convenience and other circumstances contained in the Istanbul Convention of 2011 on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
In recent years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation has stepped up consular assistance for female victims abroad – a group that is more vulnerable as these women are far from their family environment and in a cultural context that is often alien to them.
With this aim in mind, in 2019 the figure of the Coordinator for Violence against Women Abroad, Minors and Social Affairs was set up under the Directorate-General of Spaniards Abroad and Consular Affairs. Since then, specific training has been provided on this matter to public servants posted to these delegations and to new diplomats.
The signing of an Inter-ministerial Protocol on Attention for Spanish Women that are Victims of Gender-based Violence Abroad is also worthy of mention, along with the creation of a new type of protective aid and consular assistance for cases of violence against women and the signing of an Agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation and the Foundation with the General Council of Spanish Lawyers to provide free legal aid to Spanish women that are planning to return to our country, among other initiatives.