Professional care for victims of gender violence in rural areas “Cultivating equality. Promoting safe spaces”, is the name of the conference held this Tuesday in the municipality of Tíjola. A meeting aimed at professionals who work with victims of this type of violence, and which has been organised by the FADEMUR Association (Federation of Rural Women’s Associations) and the Tíjola Town Council.
Members of the local police from Cantoria, Olula del Río, Serón, Los Gallardos, Garrucha and Tíjola. Members of the Guardia Civil from Serón, Purchena and Tíjola, health workers, professionals from the town council and authorities such as the Delegate of Justice in Almería, José Luis Delgado, the Mayor, José Juan Martínez, the Councillor for Women and Equality, Maribel Tapia, the Technician responsible for the Cultivating Equality Programme in Almería, María Trinidad Navarro, and Cristina Sánchez García, Guardia Civil from EPJ. They all debated and discussed the tools and different mechanisms available to women victims of gender violence in rural areas.
“This conference aims to be a meeting point for all the administrations and agents involved in the care of victims of gender violence in rural areas, seeking to create synergies to provide the best possible service to these women and their families,” said the councillor for women in Tíjola, Maribel Tapia.
It is no coincidence that this conference, a pioneer in the province of Almería, is being held in this municipality of the Almanzora, as Tíjola became the first “Safe Space” municipality in Andalusia in November 2020. And with this workshop it is once again positioning itself as a committed municipality, as it is part of the collaboration agreement signed between FADEMUR and the Guardia Civil to train professionals who work in rural areas and are in contact with victims of gender violence.
The workshop was closed by the Delegate of Justice himself, José Luis Delgado, who highlighted the importance of the Victim Assistance Service in Andalusia (SAVA) and especially its itinerant team, since its implementation has brought this resource closer to women who suffer this type of violence. “Many women victims of gender violence did not go to this service because they did not have access to it nearby, because they lacked the means to travel to Almería. That is why one of the projects that the Regional Ministry has set up is to bring this resource closer to women, even in rural areas, so that they can count on the same attention regardless of where they live, and so that distance is no longer an obstacle”, said Delgado.