‘Only 2pc’ of domestic violence reported

9 March 2004

ALBACETE – Only 2 percent of domestic violence cases are reported to police in Spain, according to a report by Amnesty International published Tuesday.

Carmen López, spokeswoman of the human rights charity, said in the past two years 131 women had been killed by their husbands or partners.

She said that 11 percent of women in Spain suffered some type of domestic violence.

Domestic violence is an important political issue in Spain. But despite changes to the law allowing more women to report attacks, there was a 30 percent increase in the number of incidents in 2003.

López said the State was ultimately responsible for this type of violence because it  had an obligation to its citizens.

Amnesty attacked the scarcity of centres which deal with domestic violence.

They also claimed that there was no “homogenous” system for dealing with the problem throughout Spain.

Immigrants and those who are not living legally in Spain are the most vulnerable to attacks, said López.

She claimed that among women in Spain, domestic violence caused as many deaths or injuries as cancer and traffic accidents. Eighty percent of victims of all attacks were women and children, said López.

Amnesty urged the government to use more economic resources to stop attacks of this kind, to investigated the aggressors and to offer compensation to the victims.

[Copyright  EFE with Expatica]

                                      Subject: Spanish news