The ANAR Foundation has noted an increase in violence suffered by girls and adolescents, which has increased by 39.7% in four years, with a special incidence of gender violence (87% more) and a trend towards the normalisation of certain violent behaviours, as 70% do not report it.
These are some of the main data collected in the Study "Evolution of violence against women in childhood and adolescence in Spain (2018-2022)", based on the analysis of the calls and testimonies that reach this organization through the different ANAR Helplines.
In this period of time, ANAR has assisted 20,515 children and adolescents who are victims of violence against women and has responded to 382,219 requests for help.
Among these cases, there are mothers who are victims of gender-based violence with minor children, who are also directly or indirectly victims, adolescents who suffer sexist violence in their relationships and girls who suffer other types of violence such as sexual assault, cyberbullying, grooming, etc.
Among the main conclusions, Anar highlighted the 39.7% increase in the number of minors treated for violence against women in its four variants: gender, domestic, sexual violence and other types of physical or psychological violence.
Gender-based violence consultations increase by 87% Calls for gender-based violence account for 53.8% of the total. They are the type of violence that grew the most between 2018 and 2022 (87.2% in the case of adolescents and 87.7% in the case of gender-based violence in the environment).
And it is worrying that 47.1% of girls are not aware that they are being victims of gender-based violence, a figure that increases to 63.7% in the last year included in the study, while 70.3% of victims do not report or intend to do so.
In the study period, ANAR received 16,846 consultations and treated 11,031 children and adolescents for gender-based violence, most of them (86.7%) suffered in their environment and the remaining 13.3% exercised by another adolescent.
The average age of minors who suffer gender-based violence in their environment is 10 years old. 56.6% are women and 43.4% are men, their school performance is low, they live mostly in single-parent families (68.2%), usually with their mother, and in more than half of the cases, the family is migrant.
In the case of gender-based violence among adolescents, ANAR has assisted 1,468 girls and adolescents, with a growth of 87.2% since 2018, and the average age of the victims is 16 years old.
The profile of these girls is that of a secondary or baccalaureate student, in half of the cases with a low school performance, of Spanish nationality in almost 7 out of 10 cases and who lives mostly with a family.
ANAR has seen a significant increase in the involvement of new technologies in this type of violence, especially between peers and since the pandemic, when it has increased by 82%.
It has also found that in 48.8% of cases there is a mental health problem, with suicidal ideation and attempt in 17.9% of cases, behavioral problems (10.2%), and self-harm (7.7%).
In addition, it denounces that the majority of children and adolescents do not receive psychological treatment: 71.2% in the case of victims of violence in their environment and 69.1% of victims of adolescent violence. Sexual violence increases by 39.4%
ANAR has expressed its concern about the increase in sexual violence, which has grown by 39.4% in these four years, in which it has assisted 2,400 girls and adolescents affected by sexual violence, technology, pornography, prostitution and forced abortion.
It has also assisted 3,815 girls and adolescents for domestic violence. Cases of physical and psychological abuse and also negligence such as abandonment. On the other hand, 3,260 girls and adolescents have called to report cases of bullying, physical and verbal aggression, cyberbullying and institutional violence.
In all these cases, the profile of the victim is that of a 12-year-old girl. 13.9% suffer from some type of disability and in 71.6% of cases the school performance is medium or low. 73.5% of victims of this type of violence do not receive psychological treatment.
Of the total number of calls answered for any cause of violence, 70.1% of the problems were considered of high severity and 52.8% of high urgency. As a result, ANAR made 108,562 referrals to social resources for children and adolescents. The aggressor is the boyfriend and in 3 out of 10 cases, he is of legal age
As for the profile of the aggressor, in sexist violence the current boyfriend is the most identified aggressor. Normally, the age of the aggressors coincides with that of the victims, but 3 out of 10 are adults. When we talk about gender-based violence in the environment, in 90% of cases the aggressor is the father, who uses the child as an instrument to exercise violence.
As for other forms of violence, in 52.5% of cases it is a family member or a person well known to the child and the most common is the father or stepfather (83.9% of the cases). While in cases of bullying, the aggressors are minors of the same age and do not usually act alone.