Spain begins clampdown ondomestic violence ‘plague’

3 May 2004

MADRID – The government is “seriously” considering introducing electronic tagging for persistent offenders who attack their partners, it was announced Monday.

The Minister of the Interior José Antonio Alonso said it was one of a series of measures that could be used to stop domestic violence.

A 24-hour police watch on high-risk victims of domestic violence and issuing mobile phones were two other measures on the table.

The move comes after 19 women and four children were killed in Spain this year alone.

In the most recent case, a mother and her two children were burnt to death in a house fire allegedly started by her former husband in Alcira in Valencia province in north-east Spain on 29 April.

And in another case Monday in Seville, in southern Spain, a man attacked his ex-wife and set fire to her home, police said.

Alonso said the government was preparing measures to maintain better controls over the attackers using “electronic mechanisms” and to “prioritise the protection of the victims” which could include a round-the-clock police guard in the most serious cases. 

Alonso’s announcement came as the government was holding talks Monday with women’s’ groups to discuss measures to bring to prevent more domestic violence attacks.

The Minister of the Interior Antonio Camacho and the president of the Observatory Against Domestic Violence, Montserrat Comas, met to try to discuss ways to strengthen protection for women.

They were analysing cases in which women or children who were attacked were already under protection from violence partners.

The meeting comes just days before the Commission for Protection Orders meets to examine how efficient these orders are in protecting women.

This body is also considering how to protect women who are at high risk from repeated attacks.

A woman dies each week in Spain from attacks by husbands or boyfriends.

The new Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has promised to introduce a new law to strengthen protection orders and to toughen punishments for those who abuse their partners.

Zapatero himself has promised to “eradicate this plague” from Spanish society.

Despite a crackdown on domestic violence last year, 30 percent more attacks were reported.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]
  

Subject: Spanish news