More than a hundred young people from secondary education centers in Lanzarote met in the assembly hall of the Cabildo to attend the first of a series of talks on equal justice, corresponding to the application of the first block of the educational project "Educating in Equal Justice", promoted by the Association of Women Judges of Spain (AMJE) and with the collaboration of the Department of Education of the Cabildo of Lanzarote.
Marcos Bergaz, Minister of Social Welfare of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Mikel Arias, educator and psychologist, Gloria Poyatos, magistrate of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands and president of the AMJE, Francisco Javier Jiménez, prosecutor of gender violence of Lanzarote, Jesús Esparza, the coordinating forensic doctor of Lanzarote and the lawyer expert in gender violence Cristina Duque participated in this first session.
In his speech, Bergaz wanted to highlight the role of equality between men and women in our legal system, starting with the Spanish Constitution itself. "You are future ambassadors of equality" he said to the young people present, whom he encouraged to combat behaviors that occur from an early age. "We cannot impose ourselves at the expense of others," warned the counselor "You are the solution to behaviors that unfortunately are still very present."
The Minister of Education of the Cabildo, Paula Corujo, wanted to "thank the involvement of the professionals and technicians, as well as the predisposition of the educational centers involved in this program, which allows awareness from the direct knowledge of the reality of violence suffered by women. Education is the most powerful tool we have to instill in the new generations values of equality and respect and this type of activities are the most suitable"
Three years educating in equality
This program aims to educate to prevent young people and adolescents about gender violence, so that they can identify them and thus fight against them. Its implementation will be extended until June 2020 on the Island of Lanzarote.
This pioneering project has been successfully developed on the island since 2016 and is aimed at young people between 9 and 18 years old, families and teachers -although in principle it works with adolescents- by the hand of multidisciplinary judicial teams (judiciary, forensics, law, prosecution, social graduates and lawyers of the administration of justice), which altruistically.
"In our Association we are resolute, not contemplative, so we act directly on society to change it, and this project is a good example. It is a program of dissemination and knowledge of what is equal justice among young people to help them recognize discrimination and gender violence, as well as sexist stereotypes", summarized Gloria Poyatos. It is also intended to bring students closer to the judicial world, through guided tours of judicial facilities and attendance at public trials with a gender perspective, as an enriching experience that will give them more accurate information about the functioning of Spanish courts.
