Overwhelm in the face of sexist violence: the 180 workers of the Madrid Network warn of "absolute collapse" and Almeida responds that they are "making efforts"

Ruth Diaz Madrid

Madrid

Updated Thursday, March 7, 2024-00:12

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In the week of 8-M, between institutional tributes and the two feminist protests that will tour the city center, a voice activates the alarms: "We are collapsed";

"There is an abandonment of victims of sexist violence."

It is that of the 180 workers of the

Gender Violence Assistance Network of the Madrid City Council

, created 20 years ago, who for the first time will go on strike this Friday, International Women's Day, in the face of the "inadequate protection" that have dragged on in recent years.

With delays of two months for emergency appointments or the overflow of the only 15 emergency places, for those who immediately need accommodation in the face of a serious and imminent risk, among other obstacles.

On the contrary,

Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida

highlights that, although "they always have reasons to improve" and "they can never be satisfied" in the management, "efforts have been made" to advance in the assistance of the victims and that "the diagnosis [of the workers] does not correspond to reality."

The Platform responds:

"It has never been easy to work here, but at least you went to bed and said: 'I'm helping this woman.'

Now, I no longer sleep peacefully, because I am complicit in an unsustainable situation.

And no

, reject the professionals of the Network, made up of social workers, psychologists, social educators, legal advisors and assistants.

The basic cause of this overflow, which "is not exceptional, it is constant and the City Council knows it," they emphasize, is the increase in demand for the service by abused women: "For some time now, the pressure for assistance is brutal , it has grown a lot," detail the front-line technicians, who receive all the city's emergencies at the

Service for Women Victims of Gender Violence

(SAVG 24 hours), as a gateway to the Network.

According to the latest official data - the 2023 municipal report is still under review - in

2022

they served

2,136 women

in this service and its mobile unit, 8% more than in 2021, and responded to

1,179 emergencies

, 359 more than in 2021. Which represents an increase of

44%

in the 24-hour SAVG, only in those women who decide to take the step and leave home, with or without children, in search of help.

«We are attending to the emergency at the moment, but we only have 15 places.

The collapse is absolute.

"If a woman arrives at 4:00 in the morning with her three-month-old baby and there are no rooms available, they have to share it," they detail.

"There is overcrowding of victims and professionals" in the building, and without a playroom or outdoor spaces, they claim, when the victims cannot go outside unless it is essential.

In these

Temporary Stay Zones (ZET)

, where there are currently 20-23 people, they should stay for a maximum of 72 hours, but "there are women who have been lying there for

a month

for two years, with the consequent lack of schooling for minors in no school center.

Here, the number of people housed grew by 24% in 2022, with 599 people and an average per month of 50. The alternative for professionals is to turn to

Samur Social

, that is, the Network of homeless people, where they do not have the 24-hour specialized team that these vulnerable women need.

Well, the next step, once each case has been evaluated, is to shelter the victims in one of the four emergency centers, with 76 places, and where they can only stay two months, according to law 5/2005 of the

Community of Madrid

.

The reception here increased by 22% in 2022, with 459 people.

«His recovery and autonomous exit cannot be solved in that time.

"They are women with trauma, with post-traumatic stress and a very annoying socio-family situation," they lament on the Platform, which also misses the

Program for the Prevention of Sexist Violence

, of the CAM, extinct in

2021

, which served those who continued to live with the aggressor, the bulk of his patients, and favored them in referrals so that, finally, they could break the bond with the abuser.

A 'flashmob' in tribute to 8-M, this Monday, with the presence of Almeida.

A handful of worrying data reveal

the scope of the problem, the

drama in crescendo , in the Community of Madrid.

As of February 29, 2024, there were

10,065 active cases

in the region due to complaints of gender violence, 88 more than a month before.

Of the current ones, 132 are noted as "high risk" and four as "extreme."

According to this report from the

Ministry of the Interior

, published last Thursday, 120,909 Madrid residents have been victims of gender violence,

572 more women

than at the end of January.

As for fatalities, since they began to be counted in 2003, of the 1,245 murdered in

Spain

, 131 cases correspond to Madrid, that is, 10.5% of the total, somewhat below the population weight of the region in the of the country as a whole (14.2%).

The worst year was 2008, with 11 murdered, and in 2023, when the national figure rose to 58 murdered, with the second worst figure in 12 years, there were

seven victims

in the Community of Madrid (12.1% of the total).

From the

Area of ​​Social Policies, Family and Equality

of the Consistory they allege that the Madrid network "is the most extensive and complete in Spain" and that in five years the expenditure carried out against sexist violence

"has increased by close to 200%"

, going from from 7 million euros in 2010 to

13.8 million

in 2023. And they remember that, since 2019, the SAVG has been expanded to 24 hours, its mobile unit has been created and five places have been added to the emergency centers.

But the workers argue that "this extension has not been carried out" and that, in addition, emergency appointments - when a woman calls 900 222 100 asking for help or psychological support and the professionals carry out a first filter - accumulate "a

delay of two months"

, another of the grievances they fight.

"What's going on?

It happens to us, for example, that a woman with a protection order that is not in force right now, but is in a phase of increasing tension and who calls for support,

ends up returning to the aggressor,

because this is part of the cycle. of violence, and says that the appointment in two months is of no use to him.

They give up and do not request protection again.

«The coordinators tell us that the victims file complaints.

But how are we going to ask them for that?

"We must restructure the Network, it is the resources that must adapt to women, not the other way around."

In fact, the professionals already demanded, in a decalogue of solutions that they presented on February 21 to the General Directorate, the creation of a

call center,

among other measures.

«016, health centers, social services, hospitals, Police...

they all call us

.

You must answer a call from a woman who has been suffering violence for 20 years and requires her time, while you attend to an emergency and the women you have housed.

"We can't take it anymore."

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This same anguish is also suffered in the outpatient part of the Network, from the three

municipal Points of the Regional Violence Observatory

and the two

Centers for Psycho-Socio-Educational Care for Women (CAPSEM)

.

«The ratio of population served is brutal.

Weekly or biweekly appointments are needed and are being given in dribs and drabs;

"Professionals don't have time."

Although the City Council opened the III Municipal Point in 2023, they are not able to provide continuous care for the recovery of the wife and children, since, in addition, it only works until 2 p.m.

"We need an increase in staff

," they demand.

Faced with overload, the City Council emphasizes that 69 professionals have joined the Network in the last four years, with 25 new ones in 2023 and four more to the SAVG 24 hours.

this same month.

"There has been a

stampede of professionals

, no one wants to come to work here." The workforce has not been covered for 5 months, they reply on the Platform. They demand the review of their working conditions, without bonuses and "a basic collective agreement."

The City Council justifies that it cannot be responsible for this issue, since "it does not maintain a direct contractual relationship" as it is an outsourced service, they clarify from the Social Policies Area.

The opposition has already called these salaries “unworthy.”

Just yesterday,

Rita Maestre, spokesperson for Más Madrid

, accused Almeida of "lying" by denying the problem and of "mistreatment" of the workers, who have been ordered to have minimum services of 90% for the strike, and blamed "institutional violence" against victims.

However, the City Council affirms that

it will "study the complaints"

, despite the fact that in some there is "little or no room for action" due to the legislation.

The Network does not support, its professionals have exploded.

"We mobilize for all women."