By The Star Staff
To commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women today, National Network of Gender Violence Shelters President Coraly León on Sunday stressed the urgency of providing more support services to victims of sexual assault in Puerto Rico.
To achieve this goal, the shelters network is training new legal advocates in an academy to accompany survivors of sexual assault in court.
“I am a survivor of sexual violence, and I know firsthand the challenges and difficulties that survivors have when it comes to gaining access to justice,” León said about the need for support services for victims of sexual assault. “Because of the taboo, because of many of our cultural beliefs, many victims and survivors feel isolated and guilty of the painful experience they lived, which was beyond their control. They even feel disconnected from their body.”
Police Bureau statistics reported 1,278 incidents of sexual violence in 2023 in Puerto Rico, of which 79.9% of the survivors were women. In addition, 75.45% of the victims were under 17 years of age. The crime with the highest incidence reported was lewd acts (67.9%), followed by sexual assault (27.7%). Some 52.3% of the offenders were family members and 35.4% were acquaintances.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of cases of sexual violence are not reported to police. The island Department of Health has estimated that about 66,000 cases of some type of sexual violence occur annually in Puerto Rico.
“Sexual assault is one of the most terrible forms of violence that a person can experience because they lose control and autonomy [at the hands of] the aggressor, over how their body is perceived,” León said. “It makes you feel insecure in your own skin. Victims and survivors of gender violence in settings such as courts must have qualified and sensitive staff accompanying them in one of the hardest processes that someone can go through so that they are not re-victimized in court, and to minimize emotional damage.”
The Shelter Network, with a grant from the Office of the Women’s Advocate (OPM by its initials in Spanish), has been training behavioral professionals in a Legal Advocacy Academy. The first session, with 29 participants, was for cases of domestic violence, and the academy is currently training 30 new advocates in cases of sexual assault in a second session that runs until December.
“Domestic violence and sexual violence have their particularities and that is why it is worth having different academies [sessions] for the respective cases. The needs of survivors of sexual violence can be different,” León pointed out. “We thought it was important to create educational spaces in the legal advocacy academies specializing in each of these manifestations of gender violence.”
At the Legal Advocacy Academy, behavioral professionals such as social workers, psychologists and counselors are being trained, both theoretically and practically, by experienced legal advocates on topics such as the prevailing legal framework, intervention protocols, the various forms of sexual assault, the psychological impact on victims, myths, and realities of sexual violence, and strategies for supporting survivors. As part of the course, participants visit the courts and the Police Bureau division in charge of protection orders, and are exposed to interventions in support of real cases of victims in the courts’ specialized gender violence chambers.
Interim Women’s Advocate Madeline Bermúdez Sanabria noted that “this year, we are proud to launch our fifth Academy since 2018, focused specifically on cases of sexual assault, a critical and invisible area in the fight against gender violence.”
“This initiative, supported by state PARE funds, directly reflects OPM’s ongoing effort to ensure that every victim has the necessary support in court,” she said. “From 2018 to 2023, they have certified nearly 70 intercessors. Our goal is clear: to continue strengthening the Legal Advocacy Academy, with several academies planned this year, and to continue supporting victims with trained and committed professionals. Support in court is vital for victims of sexual assault, and thanks to the National Network of Gender Violence Shelters, this academy will offer behavioral professionals the opportunity to train in this crucial role.”
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