26 November 2008

MADRID – Some 400,000 women currently suffer domestic violence in Spain, according to a government study published on Tuesday, the international day for the elimination of violence against women.

The figure includes 14 percent of respondents who do not consider themselves to be victims although they were attacked by their partners or ex-partners, said Miguel Lorente, who heads government efforts to fight domestic violence.

The study, carried out in 2006, also concluded that 1.5 million women have been the victims of domestic violence at least once in their lives, he said.

Since coming to power in 2004, the socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, a self-described feminist, has made the fight against domestic violence one of its priorities.

It has increased penalties for domestic violence, boosted funding for shelters, provided specialized training for judges, police and doctors who deal with victims and funded a public education campaign in the media and schools.

Despite these measures, 71 women were killed in Spain by their partners or former partners in 2007, up from 68 in the previous year, a record which King Juan Carlos has said "denigrate us as a society".

So far this year 58 women have been killed by their partners or former partners in Spain, a nation of some 46 million people, according to the ministry of equality.

[AFP / Expatica]