Gender violence and domestic abuse increased by 23% in the first six months of this year, according to Lanzarote’s Statistics Centre.
221 cases of gender violence were reported to police in the first half of 2021, compared to 179 in 2020 – a period during which the island was locked down for over almost two months.
The majority of cases – 154 – involved physical abuse, another increase on the year before. There were also 34 cases against personal freedom (isolation, false imprisonment etc ), 5 attacks on moral integrity (degradation,etc) and one case against privacy and use of personal images.
There were also 27 cases of individuals breaking restraining conditions imposed by the courts.
Of all complaints, only nine were presented by the victims themselves. In the majority of cases, charges were brought by police after a report.
130 of the victims were Spanish nationals, while the remaining 83 were of foreign nationality.
Earlier this week, Kika Fumero of the Canarian Institute of Equality, acknowledged that gender violence had risen during the pandemic, and that Lanzarote and Fuerteventura had seen particularly high increases.
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