The Minister of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Childhood and Families of the Government of the Canary Islands, Candelaria Delgado, encouraged this Thursday the possibility of giving long-term stability to the projects developed by entities in the area of care for women victims of gender violence.
“Through the Social Agreement, we give stability to the entities and in this way the aid will not be through calls for grants, this measure gives stability to the entities, to their staff… just as is already done in dependency or disability”
The minister, who visited together with the Minister of Social Welfare of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Marci Acuña, the director of the ICI, Ana Padrón, and the president of Mararía, Nieves Rosa Hernández Gorrín, both the entity's resources and the 24-hour crisis center, one of the five that the Government of the Canary Islands maintains on the islands to assist women victims of sexual assault, also pointed out the relevance of the new agreement that the ICI will establish with the island councils next year.
“With the new agreement that will be signed next year with the island councils, we will improve the care for women victims of gender violence according to the needs of each island and we will be able to include projects such as Mararía's supervised apartment in the agreement with the Cabildo of Lanzarote”.
The councilor of the cabildo, Marci Acuña, expressed himself in the same vein, thanking the Government for the visit and assuring that “coordination between institutions and entities is fundamental because in the fight against Gender Violence we have to coordinate to form a common front”
For her part, the director of the Canary Institute for Equality (ICI), Ana Padrón, described the government's network of resources for assisting women victims of gender violence and the need for women to use these resources.
The president of the Mararía association, Nieves Rosa Hernández Gorrín, welcomed the work on equality being carried out on the island and thanked the institutional support.
“We have three apartments thanks to the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Lanzarote, which represent an annual cost of about 80,000 euros, with social educators, social integrators, psychologists, lawyers and monitors because families go there not only because they do not have a home but because they have a dysfunctional family situation”
Gender violence interventions from 112
The telephone service for Women Victims of Gender Violence 112, dependent on the Canary Institute for Equality (ICI), attended 943 calls between January and July of this year, originating from the island of Lanzarote, 12.5% more than in the same period last year when 838 alerts were received.
These calls generated the activation of the island's DEMA on 150 occasions. Health resources also had to be activated on 55 occasions and police assistance was required on another 550.
By municipalities, the largest volume of calls came from Arrecife (515), followed by Tías (123) and Yaiza (117).
Sexual assaults
The counselor also visited the 24-hour Crisis Center to assist women victims of sexual violence in Lanzarote, one of the five in the Canary Islands, and revealed that, since its opening on May 29, 2025, until July 31 of this year, the team of professionals at this center has assisted 201 women, minors, and family members.
“Every woman who has suffered a sexual assault must know that here she has a resource where she will have social, legal, and psychological support,” stated Candelaria Delgado.
Specifically, since its opening, 146 women and 18 minors who were direct victims of some type of sexual assault have been attended to, as well as 37 family members of assaulted women.
The Canary Islands have five centers for the attention of sexual violence located physically on the islands of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura, which are added to the resources of the Comprehensive Care Network for Victims of Gender Violence that the ICI finances on each island.
They are activated through 112, 016, the Security Forces and Corps, health professionals, or by directly calling the center where you wish to make an appointment.
The service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and prior reporting is not necessary to receive attention. The team at each center is made up of different professionals who provide specialized psychological help, focused on emotional well-being and recovery; legal advice, legal guidance, and advice in case of wanting to file a complaint; and social support, to accompany decision-making and facilitate the recovery process.
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