MANIFEST
There is clear evidence that women and girls with disabilities present a very high risk of suffering violence in particular forms, which are often very serious and systematic, despite which cases are usually not detected, investigated, or prosecuted.
On this November 25, the social movement of women and girls with disabilities and mothers of sons and daughters with disabilities articulated around CERMI, strongly denounces the interested silence of authorities, institutions, professionals, family and community members, who remain silent in the face of violence in all its forms against women and girls with disabilities, and demands the reporting and investigation of all cases, the prosecution of the perpetrators and full reparation to the victims.
This silence is even complicit in many detected cases of hidden sexual violence against women and girls with disabilities due to their isolation, dependency, manipulation or oppression in closed and segregated environments, such as residential and disability institutions, mental health centers, specialized dependency care and rehabilitation services, gynecology and obstetrics services, special education centers, employment preparation centers and specific protected workshops and, sometimes, the family itself. All of them contexts where the lack of supervision and control turns vulnerability into impunity for the perpetrators; where the good name of the institution or the family prevails over the reporting and protection of the victim.
The CERMI Mujeres Foundation warns that the violence described disproportionately affects women and girls who are in mental health institutions and other residential centers, where they can be undressed by male staff against their will; sometimes being restrained or isolated, and receiving forcible administration of psychiatric medication or overmedication; all of which can reduce their ability to escape and describe and/or remember sexual violence.
In these closed and segregated contexts, it is unlikely that women and girls with disabilities who are victims of violence will be able to access helplines or other forms of communication and support to report these violations. When they have obtained it, their testimonies have generally been rejected in judicial proceedings due to the lack of credibility granted to them, as well as because of their legal capacity, so the authors have been able to act with impunity due to the low risk of being discovered or punished.
For all these reasons, the CERMI Mujeres Foundation, as the authorized voice of women and girls with disabilities in Spain,
DEMAND
1. Ensure that all cases of mistreatment, violence and abuse against women and girls with disabilities are detected, investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted, and guarantee that victims effectively access justice and obtain adequate reparation.
2. Strongly strengthen oversight by independent authorities of all services, resources and programs designed to serve or care for people with disabilities, including mental health institutions, residential and educational centers, employment preparation centers and specific workshops, among others, preventing and investigating mistreatment, violence and abuse against women and girls with disabilities, as well as identifying and reporting perpetrators and their concealers.
3. Establish effective safeguards and specific protocols in all disability care services and programs, including mental health, residential and educational centers, employment preparation and specific workshops, for the prevention and detection of mistreatment, violence and abuse against women and girls with disabilities, ensuring that victims have access to confidential, independent and accessible reporting mechanisms adapted to their particular needs and access to specialized programs after complaints that ensure their protection and subsequent recovery.
4. Monitoring so that violence committed against a woman or girl with disabilities is not referred by default, or by appealing to her best interests, to any type of alternative dispute settlement procedure, such as covert mediation and conciliation.
5. Train women and girls with disabilities, especially those who are institutionalized and in special centers, on how to recognize situations of mistreatment, violence and cyber violence, as well as sexual harassment and abuse, and how to report them.
6. Break the silence and denounce all perpetrators of violence against women and girls with disabilities and those who cover it up.
Silence makes you an accomplice!
Denounce violence against women and girls with disabilities
Not one less!
