Belgium, where this Sunday thousands of women participated in a demonstration national against sexist violence, considers Spain “an example” to follow in this area, the Belgian Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Sarah Schlitz, told EFE.
Schlitz, who was in the demonstration that went through the center of Brussels, stressed that “Spain is a very inspiring country in Europe” in terms of sexist violence, and considers “very important the work done for women in Spain and around the world, because that shows the way forward.”
The Belgian Secretary of State has stated, in this regard, that Belgium and Spain maintain “a collaboration” that allows them “to move forward and find good solutions to fight violence.” Thus, it has indicated that the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, has visited in Belgium the center that deals with victims of violence against women, to “eventually be able to take the model to Spain.”
Regarding the first Belgian national plan to combat sexist violence, presented last Friday, Schlitz explained that it will allow, among other things, start counting femicides as of 2022. So far, the country does not have an official database on these murders of women, but relies on the collection of information by feminist organizations, which are based on the information published in the newspapers.
“In Belgium, as in all countries, there is a serious problem of violence against women. We already have 18 femicides in 2021 and the year is not over,” said Schlitz. In this way, the new plan will allow “coordinated action” between the different regions and combat not only domestic violence, but also online, physical, financial or sexual violence and reduce impunity, he added.
In addition, he has also talked about the #BalanceTonBar (‘Denuncia Tu Bar’) campaign against sexual assaults in nightlife venues, which “began in Brussels and has spread to France, Spain, the United Kingdom and Canada.” The movement arose after the attacks suffered by women in bars and clubs in Brussels, in some cases after the victims were allegedly drugged. The objective of the campaign is “to say enough, that violence is more accepted in party places,” said the Belgian official.
Despite the cold and rain, some 3,000 women according to the Police and 8,000 according to the organizersThey have toured Brussels in a demonstration that had a festive nature, and where banners with slogans such as “Enough of Feminicides” or “Stop sexism” were displayed.
Ricardo Fontanillas, from the ‘ROSA’ campaign (Resistance against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity), has stated, for his part, that the objective of the march is “highlight the shortcomings of the system in which we live. “” What we propose are concrete measures, such as the creation of houses with easy access for women victims of sexist violence (…), to give more resources to the judicial system, so that complaints can be dealt with in a faster “, he said, to which he added:”Belgium lags behind Spain, which in 2004 promulgated the Organic Law to combat Gender Violence and it created (…) the courts against violence against women and specific aid mechanisms “.
In addition, the representative of the feminist campaign has expressed about the plan recently presented by the Belgian Government that “the fact of accounting for femicides is positive because it will allow taking into account the seriousness of the phenomenon”, but believes that this it must be accompanied by “concrete measures” to prevent such deaths.
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