‘Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating

human rights violations in the world today’. This is the first sentence of the manifesto read this

morning in the cloister of the Monastery of Los Jerónimos, where an event was held to

commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which will

be celebrated tomorrow (Friday, 25 November) all over the world. The conference, organised

by the Women, Business and Sports Chair of Universidad Católica de Murcia, was attended by

students, teachers and employees of this university.

The event was attended by María Jesús Bonilla and María Dolores Bolarín, director and

coordinator of the Chair; Antonio Alcaraz, Vice-rector for University Outreach; Beatriz

Fernández, lieutenant of the Civil Guard; and Isabel María García, student of the Bachelor's

Degree in Early Childhood Education.

The chair director reminded everyone that ‘the key lies in education’ and therefore stressed

that it’s necessary ‘to think about this so that everyone feels co-responsible to put an end to

this huge scourge together’. Along the same lines, Isabel María pointed out that, as a student

of Early Childhood Education, in the earliest stages of growth, children ‘must learn respect,

equality between men and women, and that there is no superiority of one over the other’.

The number of women killed as a result of gender-based violence in Spain rises to 38 in 2022

and to 1,168 since 2003. Monserrat Alameda, spokesperson for the Murcia Civil Guard

Command, stated that ‘we have been working on this problem of violence, both against

women and minors, for many years’. In this fight, a step forward has been taken to improve

the effectiveness of this body: ‘Recently, the Viogén teams, specialised in the care of victims of

gender-based violence, have been created’. Antonio Alcaraz closed the event, as

representative of the Universidad Católica, saying that ‘we are committed to supporting these

initiatives carried out by the Chair in Women, Business and Sports for the benefit not only of

women, but of society as a whole. We all benefit from being able to live and work together for

a better world’.

The manifesto recalled that violence against women goes beyond physical aggression ‘as

emotional abuse is an ever-present reality nowadays, and it does not discern age, sex or social

status’ and called for a fight in all corners of the world to put an end to this scourge: ‘It must

be a commitment of the entire society’.