El Congreso de los Diputados ha acogido hoy la toma de posesión de Ángel Gabilondo como Defensor del Pueblo.

El nuevo Defensor ha asegurado que “para este gran desafío” trabajará “con dignidad y ecuanimidad, con rigor, con eficacia y con independencia”. Así, ha señalado que “la defensa de los derechos humanos” será su “absoluta prioridad”.

También ha mostrado su firme compromiso para velar por los derechos de aquellos que están “en una situación penosa, son víctimas de la desigualdad, la injusticia y la violencia o se encuentran en riesgo de exclusión”.

Entre los asistentes al acto de toma de posesión estuvieron presentes, entre otros, la presidenta del Congreso de los Diputados, Meritxell Batet, el presidente del Senado, Ander Gil, varios ministros del Gobierno, representantes de la Comisión Mixta de relaciones con el Defensor del Pueblo, diputados y defensores autonómicos.

Nacido en San Sebastián y padre de dos hijos, Ángel Gabilondo tiene una dilatada carrera profesional. Es catedrático de Metafísica de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), de la que fue rector desde 2002 hasta 2009. También ha presidido la Conferencia de Rectores de las Universidades Españolas (CRUE) entre 2007 y 2009.

Fue ministro de Educación entre abril de 2009 y diciembre de 2011 y también ha sido diputado de la Asamblea de Madrid durante dos legislaturas.

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“If it keeps even a single person safe from abuse it’s worth it” is the message the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is sending out as it calls on councils to use its latest report to examine the services they provide to victims of domestic abuse.

As councils take on more responsibility under the new Domestic Abuse Act, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is urging them to reflect on their own practices and procedures using the lessons contained within today’s report and identify whether they can improve the way they work.

Councils have a key role in responding to domestic abuse, and working with other agencies, such as the police and health services, they provide appropriate support to victims of domestic abuse, for example through housing and homelessness services, children’s safeguarding or to adults at risk of abuse or neglect.

In the report, the Ombudsman is using the experiences of a number of victims whose cases it has investigated to offer guidance and insight to councils, and suggest ways in which those services could have responded better.

Issues highlighted in the report include councils questioning victims’ lived experiences and downplaying the impact of the trauma they have endured, failing to work with other local services to keep victims safe, and leaving people at risk for longer than necessary.

In one case, a victim’s personal information was shared with her abusive former partner, causing huge stress and anxiety. In another, a pregnant mother and her four-month-old baby were assaulted by their abuser when they were not rehoused quickly enough by their local council.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:

“Navigating the myriad processes that might be involved when victims of domestic abuse first call on their local council for help can be daunting enough, even without the trauma and stress of having gone through such awful experiences.

“The key thing therefore is for councils to provide services for victims of domestic abuse as soon as they ask for help – and those services provided by authorities and partner agencies need to be seamless to avoid compounding the trauma.

“I would urge councils across England to take the report in the constructive manner in which it is intended and use it to scrutinise their systems and procedures to see whether they can make changes for the better. If this helps drive action to keep even a single person safe from abuse, then it must be worth it.”

As EU countries grapple with a new wave of Covid-19, police, media and NGOs continue to report on increasing rates of violence against women and girls. This ‘shadow pandemic’ has a devastating effect on the rights of women and girls across Europe. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) call on the EU and all Member States to redouble their efforts to protect women's rights and mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women with concrete action.

"Women and girls across Europe continue to face violence. The pandemic has made this flagrant human rights abuse even worse, as lockdowns and economic uncertainty leave many women living in continuous fear," said FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty. "Authorities at all levels need to work better together to effectively protect women and put an end to violence and abuse."

“Violence against women happens in every EU country. We need to work together to create societies where violence is eradicated. We need to put laws in place that really work to stop violence against women. And we need to collect better data to monitor the situation all the time,” said EIGE Director Carlien Scheele.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, women’s shelters and non-governmental organisations have been reporting a surge in violence against women. Shelter and counselling staff have been overwhelmed due to increased demand during lockdowns, as EIGE shows in its 2021 report.

FRA also highlighted the reality of increases in domestic violence in some of its Bulletins on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on fundamental rights.

The worsening Coronavirus situation is likely to see similar patterns emerge once again. (...)

Dear GREVIO members,
Distinguished speakers,
Colleagues and friends,

Let me begin by congratulating GREVIO on the adoption of General Recommendation No.1 on the digital dimension of violence against women. I wish to extend my congratulations to all the experts and actors who worked on this document. It is with great pleasure that I take part in this launch event.

Today, in a context where the Istanbul Convention is under attack and where restrictions to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have increased levels of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls, your work is all the more essential.  

Combating violence against women and girls, including domestic violence, has been among the top priorities on my agenda since the beginning of my mandate. Addressing the digital dimension of violence against women is challenging but also very timely. And that is why I welcome the fact that GREVIO’s first General Recommendation focuses on that topic.

The long-standing problem of cyberviolence in Europe has acquired a new dimension in recent years with the rising popularity of social media platforms. Today, online threats of murder, sexual assault or rape are worryingly part of women’s daily life. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed women and girls to online gender-based violence, particularly sexual violence. It is in this same period that, last year, I published a statement calling on member states to stop cyberviolence against women and girls.

Throughout my work, I have noted how cyber-attacks against women and girls are often not taken seriously, not only by law-enforcement officials, but also by women’s families and relations and by society as a whole. Women and girls might not be believed, they are sometimes discredited and stigmatised. They are often told that nothing will change if they speak up. Cyberviolence continues, therefore, to go underreported and underestimated. Huge challenges still lie along the path towards obtaining justice for the women victims who do actually find the courage to speak out.  

This needs to change. It is important that manifestations of violence against women and girls in the digital sphere are understood as a form of violence against women that, like any other, hampers the full realisation of gender equality and violates their human rights.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental right which must be protected, but it is not an absolute right. There are limits which apply, in particular with regard to hate speech against women and girls. Cyberviolence against women can and should be prosecuted and sanctioned as such and women should be protected and able to obtain redress.

However, we also need to be aware that, in some cases, content shared online targeting women and girls, which may not reach the threshold to fall under the scope of criminal law, can nevertheless be harmful. Disparaging comments and images can also be destructive, considering the amplitude that this may take due to the multitude of people involved and the wide and quick spread of such content through the Internet and social platforms. Here, awareness-raising is among the preventive measures that can be taken.

I also believe that freedom of expression should serve as a vital tool to counter hate speech and make the digital world a place where women and girls feel safe, free from violence, empowered and more visible. This is why, in 2019, ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I called on member states, and on all of us in fact, to speak up against sexist hate speech in full line with the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)1 on preventing and combating sexism.

States must address cyberviolence, using all the tools at their disposal. And these tools exist.

Today we have this General Recommendation, dedicated to the application of the Istanbul Convention in relation to the digital dimension of violence against women. This General Recommendation confirms that the Istanbul Convention is the most comprehensive and far-reaching international treaty to address gender-based violence against women. This treaty needs to be valued and adequately implemented to protect women and girls, also in the ever-evolving digital space.

This should be done in connection with other treaties and instruments we have at our disposal, such as the Lanzarote Convention, dealing with sexual abuse and exploitation against children, and the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, to which a second additional protocol on enhanced co-operation and disclosure of electronic evidence was adopted last week.

Considering the disproportionate and very harmful impact that cyberviolence has on women, it is essential to find ways of preventing perpetrators from hiding their identity in the digital sphere. Digital environments cannot be realms of impunity. GREVIO’s General Recommendation is full of measures that can be taken in this respect. In particular, the role of all relevant actors, including ICT companies and internet intermediaries, must be enhanced.

The digital dimension of violence against women not only causes women and girls psychological harm and suffering – resulting, in some cases, in physical violence - but it also deters them from digital participation in political, social and cultural life. As women in society experience varying and intersecting forms of discrimination, having an aggravating negative impact in their daily lives, we must be aware that sexist hate speech and cyberviolence may affect women to different degrees and in different ways.

Some women – in fact - are particularly exposed, such as public figures, politicians, journalists and women’s rights defenders. Today, I would like to address in particular the situation of human rights defenders and female journalists.

Most defenders of women’s rights are women themselves. It is their voices that are often silenced by attacks and threats made by thousands of invisible faces. As a woman, and Commissioner for Human Rights, I am familiar with such attacks online.

I have also noted how the online harassment of women journalists has a significant impact on women’s participation in the field of journalism, their personal lives and the ability of society to access information. I have often reiterated that states have the duty to adopt protective measures for female journalists and to encourage the private sector and the media to fight gender-based violence online. Human rights standards to ensure the safety of journalists and combat gender-based violence exist. Implementation is, however, lacking.

In particular, in light of the work carried out by my Office in the past years, I have seen that women’s rights defenders and journalists who challenge traditional gender stereotypes or work on issues such as sexual and reproductive health and rights are often specifically targeted in a number of European states. Women defending and reporting on the rights of the LGBTI community are also under constant attack. Those who advocate for the rights of women victims of domestic violence and provide them with assistance have reported continuous harassment and threats online by perpetrators of violence. Recently, I was informed that women’s human rights defenders have also been subjected to cyberviolence for highlighting in some states the importance of ratifying and implementing the Istanbul Convention.

This type of violence in the digital sphere may cause women’s defenders and female journalists to withdraw from participating online and from expressing their views on online platforms, silencing their voices and rendering them further invisible in the public debate. This has tremendous consequences. Undermining women’s human rights defenders and female journalists’ rights and work, in a digital or non-digital environment, means undermining democracy itself. In the context of the current backlash against women’s rights which endangers the progress already achieved towards gender equality, this is very dangerous.

Women’s defenders and journalists, in their role as public watchdogs in democratic societies, stand at the core of that constant vigilance and mobilisation that incessantly fights against stagnation and retrogression in women’s rights.

We, in turn, need to highlight their courage and determination by creating and promoting the use of existing tools and assisting them in this fight. That is also one of the objectives of the adoption of this very first General Recommendation. And that is why, in my dialogue with states, you can be sure that I will continue to call on them to ratify and implement the Istanbul Convention with this guidance in mind, and to have perpetrators duly prosecuted and sanctioned for their acts of violence online. (...)

En 1991 se creó este Foro a iniciativa del Justicia Gastón para  establecer  reuniones periódicas con todos los agentes que trabajan con el derecho aragonés; especialmente el Derecho Foral  Huesca  22/09/21 El Justicia de Aragón tiene encomendadas dos funciones que le hacen singular en la estructura institucional española: la Defensa del Estatuto de Autonomía y la Tutela del Ordenamiento Jurídico Aragonés (TOJA). Por ello, el Justicia Gastón solicitó la colaboración del TSJA, magistrados y notarios para la elaboración del Informe sobre la TOJA.  Fruto de esa relación, se vio la necesidad de establecer unas reuniones periódicas con todas las instituciones y entidades que agrupan a las profesiones jurídicas  de Aragón, especialmente en el Derecho Foral. De esta forma, en 1991 se crearon los Encuentros del Foro de Derecho Aragonés que en este año  alcanzan su XXX edición y que, como en años anteriores, se han desarrollado en tres sesiones. Las dos primeras jornadas, celebradas en el salón Carlos Carnicer del Colegio de Abogados de Zaragoza, versaron sobre La reforma de la discapacidad y su incidencia en el derecho aragonés y la Legislación y respuesta judicial ente la pandemia en Aragón. Y la tercera tendrá lugar mañana y con un carácter especial tanto en su forma y como en su contenido, pues gracias a la colaboración del Ayuntamiento de Huesca el acto tendrá lugar en el Salón del Justicia del consistorio oscense, y en el mismo se hará un balance sobre la evolución del Derecho Foral de Aragón y las aportaciones que se han realizado desde el Foro de Derecho Aragonés. El Foro está compuesto, además de nuestra Institución por las siguientes instituciones y entidades: Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Aragón, Fiscalía Superior de Aragón, Cámara de Cuentas de Aragón, Academia Aragonesa de Jurisprudencia y Legislación, Colegio de Abogados de Zaragoza, Colegio de Abogados de Huesca, Colegio de...