The UK Minister for the Criminal Justice System, Baroness Patricia Scotland, and the Spanish Secretary General for Equality Policies, Soledad Murillo, chaired a seminar on gender violence, which took place at the residence of the British Ambassador in Madrid, and was hosted by his wife, Lady Wright.

The Women In Business Club, founded in May of 2004, has worked with great conviction to bring about awareness, funding and solutions to Spain’s domestic violence problems. WIBC member and VIP liaison – Roberta Frost (Bobby) was invited to Madrid for this important conference. (>> photo of Bobby Frost with Lady Wright)

The seminar brought together experts from Spain and the UK to exchange experience and best practice on how to approach the problem of gender violence from different perspectives, with an in-depth discussion on the following issues:

- Overview of legislative developments and policy implementation, including employment rights.
- Prevention, integrated social assistance measures and vulnerable groups, including the black population and other ethnic minorities.
- Private sector involvement and the Corporate Alliance against Domestic Violence, which has just been launched in the UK.

Recent legislative initiatives on domestic violence at the end of 2004 and their current implementation both in the UK and Spain present a timely opportunity for holding this meeting on a far-reaching social problem in both countries where the statistics show, for example, that this year, in London alone, there have been 60,000 acts of violence while in Spain 60,000 cases of mistreatment were reported in 2005.

In addition, as a result of the work carried out by government, voluntary and community organisations, as well as the private sector, both the UK and Spain currently have a wide range of initiatives in place on domestic/gender violence. The work undertaken in both cases, together with examples of best practice, innovative projects and programmes, is a very useful basis for the exchange of knowledge between the two countries.

The seminar has had the support of the Spanish Government’s Secretariat General for Equality Policies and the sponsorship of The Body Shop. In addition to the seminar, a follow-up report will be published presenting the contents of the discussions, together with recommendations for future cooperation and bilateral exchange at the end of the summer 2006.

Further information:

Bobby Frost – WIBC VIP Liaison - 96 649 3438 – www.WIBC-SPAIN.com

Karla Darocas – WIBC Director / Founder – 96 597 3234

Susana López Penedo, Assistant Head of Press & Public Affairs.
British Embassy. Tel. 91 700 83 02 / 639 207 597