Fight against sexual violence: why Spain has become a model

The shock Ana Orantes

Every time a tragedy shakes France, the same country returns to the public debate: Spain. To understand the model in force among our neighbors, we must go back to the end of the 1990s and to an affair which profoundly marked the country.

On December 4, 1997, a 60-year-old woman, Ana Orantes, testified on local Andalusian television. Facing the camera, she recounts forty years of domestic violence. During the show, she describes the beatings, humiliations and attacks she suffered throughout her marriage. She claims to have alerted the authorities on several occasions without obtaining effective protection.

About ten days later, her ex-husband found her at her home. He hits her, douses her with gasoline then burns her alive in the garden of her house. The body was discovered by one of his daughters on her return from school. The affair causes a shock wave. For many Spaniards, Ana Orantes is not only the victim of her former spouse: she is also the martyr of a system which failed to protect her despite its numerous warnings.

 

A founding law in 2004

Seven years after this murder, the Spanish Parliament unanimously adopted an organic law against gender-based violence, often presented as the founding act of the Spanish model.

The text is based on a simple idea: violence against women does not constitute a private problem but a question of public interest which mobilizes all institutions.

The law provides for several strong measures. Among them: the rapid removal of the attacker from the home; facilitated protection orders; reinforced legal assistance for victims; the creation of a specialized parquet floor; or the establishment of courts specializing in gender-based violence.

Today, more than a hundred specialized courts handle these cases throughout Spain.

 

Une justice spécialisée

One of the main Spanish specificities lies in this judicial specialization. Judges, prosecutors, police officers and social workers benefit from specific training on domestic and gender-based violence.

The objective is to prevent cases from being buried among other disputes and to allow a better assessment of the risks incurred by victims. Defenders of the system believe that this specialization has made it possible to improve the care of women and better coordinate legal responses.

 

The VioGen system, permanent risk monitoring

Another element often cited: the VioGen system. Set up by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, this system centralizes information concerning victims of domestic violence. Each situation is subject to a danger assessment. Depending on the level of risk identified, different protective measures can be triggered by the authorities: police surveillance, regular contact with the victim, alert systems or reinforced protection.

The system also allows the different stakeholders involved to share information in real time.

 

A policy of transparency

Spain also stands out for the regular publication of detailed data. The number of femicides, complaints filed, protection measures granted and risk assessments are subject to national statistical monitoring. This transparency allows public authorities to adapt their policies but also to maintain high visibility of the subject in the public debate.

 

More than a legal arsenal, a political philosophy

For specialists, however, the Spanish model does not come down to a series of technical devices. Perhaps the main difference is cultural and political.

Since the Orantes affair, violence against women has gradually become a state issue in Spain. Femicides are no longer considered as simple news items but as a symptom of collective failure. It is this global vision that today leads many French officials to look towards Madrid when looking for ways to improve the protection of victims.