Battered women in Cataluña to receive government aid

VICTIMS of gender violence, both abused women and orphans under the age of 26, are to receive aids of up to €5,700, the Cataluña government has announced.

The Generalitat regional government has approved a new measure to allow the aids, which are already in place in Galicia and Andalucia.

Social Welfare delegate Neus Munte explained at the Catalan Parliament that the aid aims to help victims of violence recover and is included in the regional laws against gender violence.

The aids, of between five and 10 times the IRSC Cataluña Adequate Income Index value of €569, will consist of a single payment and will be given to those falling into one of three groups: women suffering physical or psychological effects caused by abuse by their partners which require medical or psychiatric treatment, women with acknowledged disabilities, and financially dependent children under the age of 26 whose mothers have died at the hands of their partners.

The news came after a report was made public on March 10 informing that the number of women killed by their partners in the region increased by 250 per cent from 2013 to 2014, with a total of 14 victims registered last year compared to just four the previous year.