The Association of Women Judges of Spain has as its fundamental objective to collaborate in the defense of Human Rights and therefore in the eradication of discrimination and violence against women. Regarding the legislation on gender violence, we state that:
I.- The history of women is the history of chronic discrimination and the violence exerted against women and girls is an extreme manifestation of inequality and a tool, sometimes deadly, to maintain their subordinate situation. This is a serious social, global problem with international impact, causing more deaths than any known war. We are facing a powerful historical, endemic and multifaceted scourge that is generated from a deep-rooted social base from which Spain is not exempt.
According to the "Global Study on Homicide 2013" conducted by UNODC, almost half (47%) of all female victims in 2012 were murdered by their partners or family members compared to 6% in the case of men. The different faces of gender violence can only be understood with an international perspective because they cross borders and are a matter of public order.
According to the study carried out by the Ministry of the Interior on homicide in Spain (period 2010-2012), gender violence is the cause of more than half (51%) of homicides in which the victim is a woman.
Since 2003 and according to data from the Observatory of Domestic and Gender Violence, 976 women have been murdered by their male partners or ex-partners, as well as a total of 27 minors, used by their own parents with the sole purpose of destroying their mothers in life, without the need to use a weapon.
II.- Gender violence and discrimination against women has no borders and does not distinguish age, race, profession, social origin or cultural level and therefore its approach begins vertically from the International Human Rights Law, which obliges States that have ratified the International Human Rights Covenants of 1966 and the CEDAW (1979), and the Istanbul Convention (2011 in force in Spain since 2014 and part of our legal system according to art. 96 CE)) at the regional level, to fulfill their commitments not only by refraining from discriminating but also by adopting positive and compensatory measures that prevent and eliminate discrimination. Expressly in the Istanbul Convention it is foreseen that: "The Parties shall take the legislative and other measures necessary to act with due diligence to prevent, investigate, punish and provide compensation for acts of violence covered by the scope of this Convention committed by non-state actors" (art. 5.2).
Therefore, the right to equality, as a human right, requires States to comply with the international principle of "due diligence" for the full realization of women's right to live a life free of violence, which translates into three levels of real action for the transformation of reality and to comply with and guarantee the obligations of the states:
1- Prevention: through the legal recognition of gender violence as required by the Istanbul Convention, that is, as violence that is exerted against women for the mere fact of being so or that affects them disproportionately; and absence of stereotyping at all levels, which requires the promotion of training in Human Rights.
2- Protection. Adoption of appropriate measures to respond to gender violence exerted against women in all areas, adopting the necessary measures to ensure and guarantee in practice the human rights of women.
3.- Reparation. Establishment of measures that include full guarantees of integral reparation.
III. In our country, as an expression of these commitments, Law 1/2004 on Comprehensive Protection against Gender Violence (whose constitutionality was consolidated by the Constitutional Court in STC 59/2008 of May 14) and Law 3/2007 for the effective Equality of Women and Men were approved. Both respond, therefore, to international commitments from which Spain not only cannot unilaterally disassociate itself, leaving the rights of a part of the population adrift, but must continue to develop them, extending the fight against sexist violence beyond personal or social relations with the aggressor and especially for the protection of minors exposed to it. Andalusia has been a pioneer in the autonomous field and adapted in July 2018 its Law 13/2007 on Prevention and Comprehensive Protection against Gender Violence to the Istanbul Convention, expanding the subjective scope of the norm to extend it beyond partner relationships.
IV.- A step back in these postulates would not only undermine one of the most important democratic consensuses in our country, but would also earn us international condemnation and reprobation. Unfortunately, Spain was already condemned by the Cedaw Committee, in its communication of July 16, 2014 (Ángela González Case), among other breaches, precisely for "failing in its obligation to exercise due diligence" and recalls that :
"violence against women, which undermines or nullifies the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms under international law or various human rights conventions, constitutes discrimination, as defined in article 1 of the Convention. This discrimination is not limited to acts committed by governments or on their behalf. Thus, for example, under article 2(e) of the Convention, States Parties undertake to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise. On this basis, the Committee considers that States may also be responsible for acts of private persons if they fail to act with due diligence to prevent the violation of rights or to investigate and punish acts of violence and compensate victims (?)".
The aforementioned international human rights instruments do not require identical treatment for men and women, but one that does not result in discrimination against women. This obligation arises from the fact that States are not only obliged to guarantee equality but also to ensure non-discrimination based on sex and any other condition. The asymmetrical and unequal situations that exist in our society require public authorities to assume their responsibilities and guarantee the full realization of equality and non-discrimination, even adopting, if necessary, differentiated treatment that restores the balance between the parties.
Such action, which is not questioned in areas such as labor where there is protective legislation that aims to equalize the social asymmetries that prevail in labor relations, cannot be questioned either in the case of women who continue to suffer discrimination and violence derived from the macho culture.
V. Our society and the institutions that represent it have the fundamental obligation to respect, protect and guarantee the Fundamental Rights of all those people or groups that may see them threatened. In the case of women, this obligation is specified, always within the guarantees of the Rule of Law, in specific policies of prevention and fight against inequality and violence that we suffer for the fact of being women. Without them, half of the population would be deprived of them, thus ceasing to be Human Rights.