The Government has sent the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) a draft royal decree that plans to increase by 53, four in the Canary Islands, the positions of judges and magistrates of sexual violence against women. This will address the new powers that these courts will have to assume from October.
The vast majority of this increase corresponds to the creation of new positions (39). While the rest consists of the transformation of positions from instruction positions to violence against women positions (14).
Among these 39 newly created positions, with their corresponding prosecutor position, there are four for the Canary Islands. Specifically, in Puerto del Rosario, Arona, Arrecife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
According to the National Awareness and Prevention of Gender Violence Plan, the creation of 39 judge positions entails the creation of another 39 positions for prosecutors specialized in the new sections. For its part, the Government has also asked the CGPJ to inform it in which courts reinforcement judges would be necessary until the planned increase in judges is completed.
Violence against women
The Justice Efficiency Law contemplates that the Courts of Violence against Women will be in charge of processing, starting next October, all cases of sexual violence and not only those that occur within the couple's environment, as was the case until now.
These crimes include trafficking for sexual exploitation, forced marriages, female genital mutilation or cases of sexual harassment.
Experts in gender violence judges had warned of the collapse they face when assuming these cases. The CGPJ has estimated that the workload will increase by an average of 13% in each Court of Violence against Women.
The Government has recognized that more judges are needed and the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños, placed the increase in workload at 20%. At the same time, he announced on March 8 that they would increase the number of judges of violence against women by 50%.
