These are the gender-based violence figures in Malaga province

Since records began on the number of fatal victims of gender-based violence in 2003, 57 women have been murdered in the province of Malaga. This means that in just over two decades, 7.3 women have been murdered for every 100,000 over the age of fifteen.

This ratio in Andalucía is seven women per 100,000 over 15 years of age and the national average is 5.9. Almeria is the province with the most alarming ratio in the region, with 12.4 fatal victims of violence inflicted by a partner or former partner per 100,000 women over the age of 15.

These figures were presented on Wednesday 20 November by the provincial secretary of the Comisiones Obreras union, Fernando Cubillo, and María José Prados, the union's secretary for women and equality in Malaga, ahead of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

These 57 women murdered in Malaga represent 21.4% of the total number of gender-based murders that have been perpetrated in Andalucía in the last two decades since records began. But both this year and last year, Malaga province has led this bleak ranking: in 2023 there were four women murdered at the hands of their partners or ex-partners and so far in 2024 this figure has already been exceeded, with five femicides out of the nine that have already been counted in Andalucía.

Violence is on the rise. This is what other data shows. For example, in 2023 there were 16 female fatal victims of gender-based violence in Andalucía, five more than a year earlier and the highest figure since 2011. These 16 cases are more than a quarter of those registered at state level last year, which amounted to 58, in turn, the highest figure since 2015.

Of the total number of murders of women that have taken place since 2003, in only 33% of the cases had the aggressor been reported previously. Of all those registered last year, in only one of the four cases had the victim reported her aggressor, while in none of the cases so far in 2024 had the man been reported.

In the accumulated data since 2003, the age group with the highest number of murdered women is the youngest, between 21 and 30 years old, with 16 victims in Malaga, followed by the age group between 41 and 50 years old, with 14 murdered women.

Comisiones Obreras also highlights the fact that so far in 2024 there have been ten cases of under-age victims of male violence at national level, which is the highest figure since records began; of these, two have been murdered in Andalucía.

The document presented by Comisiones Obreras in Malaga also reports on the incidence of gender violence among children. In the province there have been three minors murdered in cases of so-called 'vicarious violence' (when children are killed or harmed to hurt their mother), two in 2013 and another in 2015. In addition, twenty children have been orphaned in the province since 2013, 30% of whom have been left without a mother because she has been murdered in the last two years.

Violence against women is intensifying and becoming more sophisticated, but so is awareness of its existence, and more and more women know how to name what is happening to them. And that is why the data compiled by the union also reflects an increase in the number of reports. 2023 was the year with the highest number of reports of gender-based violence, with more than 9,000, an increase of more than 9% over the previous year.

Malaga was the Andalusian province with the highest number of reports, representing 23% of all those registered in the region last year. This represents a ratio of 116.9 complaints per 10,000 women over the age of 15. Four out of every ten cases corresponded to police reports by direct police intervention, i.e. at the request of law enforcement agencies.

Up to 4 November 2024, according to data compiled by Comisiones Obreras, there have been almost 4,300 reports of gender-based violence registered in the province as a whole.

The number of protection orders for gender-based violence initiated in 2023 was 1,527, almost 9% more than in 2022. Furthermore, this number results in a ratio of 19.7 protection orders per 10,000 women over 15 years of age. This is a rate that is below the national and Andalusian average, which leads the union to believe that something is wrong between the presentation of the report and the declaration of the women's right to protection. The percentage of orders refused in Malaga last year was 31%.

So far in 2024, the number of protection orders initiated is close to 700, according to figures compiled by Comisiones Obreras in Malaga.

In addition, within the Integral Monitoring System in cases of gender violence, a total of 2,769 women resident in Malaga have been counted so far, which represents an increase of 23% compared to last year.