On Thursday morning, 3rd March, in the Aula Magna of La Nau of the Universitat de València, the Annual Congress of the Association of Women Judges of Spain began. The inaugural table was made up of the Consellera for Justice, Gabriela Bravo; the principal of the University of Valencia, Mavi Mestre; the Spanish Government Delegate against Gender Violence, Victoria Rosell; and the representative of the Association of Women Judges of Spain, Lara Esteve.

The congress agenda, which will run until Friday 4th March, includes several working groups and specialist speakers from different social sectors, covering topics such as violence in childhood, violence and disability, violence and lack of resources, and prostitution as a gender-based crime. Placing the most vulnerable and unprotected people at the centre of the debate. In addition, on the closing day, there will be an assembly of the Association and the presentation of the project for the integration of Afghan women judges in Spain.

At the beginning of the day, the principal of the Universitat de València, Mavi Mestre, welcomed the authorities and attendees to this congress, thanking the organization opening, to inaugurate these two days of meetings that deal with the working points of the Universitat de València, during what has been in recent years and will also be in the coming years: feminism as a necessary and essential struggle, and real equality as an objective towards which to continue progressing.

She also highlighted the symbolic and practical value of the 2004 Ley Orgánica de Medidas de Protección contra la Violencia de Género, as an international benchmark in the treatment of crimes that are rooted in the secular discrimination against women, in whose production process members of the Universitat de València collaborated.

The Spanish Government delegate against gender violence, Victoria Rosell, expressed her excitement at sharing this space with sisters and companions in their struggles and convictions. She also highlighted the state pact against gender violence value, and the work to articulate institutions for equality, feminism and the fight against gender violence and the subordination of women. In this sense, she extended her institutional support to continue to demand that the judiciary exercise its functions with a gender perspective, in order to contribute to the construction of a fairer society.

The Consellera of Justice, Gabriela Bravo, commented that groups in vulnerable situations, especially women victims of gender violence, have been a fundamental axis and force of policies during 7 years of management by the Valencian Community and the Conselleria of Justice.

She also shared the projects that are underway at the Valencian Government and praised the work carried out by the Association of Women Judges of Spain, mentioning that the society transformation is carried out from the very heart of justice, so that, in order to generate a fairer society, a fairer and more egalitarian justice system is also needed. This is the importance of the professional jurists’ capacities who make up this Association.

Finally, she emphasised women voices, which are fundamental to vindicate injustice and the rights of societies that aspire to equality. She stated that these meetings are of utmost importance to maintain firm convictions, to set up new projects, to improve reflections to incorporate new ways of dealing with problems and justice.