Gender-based violence alerts continue to rise in the Canary Islands in August

The 112 telephone service for women experiencing gender-based violence, run by the Canary Islands Institute for Equality (ICI), handled 1,955 alerts in August, an average of 63 a day.

Of these, 59% — 1,148 alerts — were classified as emergencies: situations involving imminent danger to a woman that required police, medical or island emergency services to be deployed. A total of 68 women said they had a disability.

ICI director Ana Padrón says: “To turn this serious structural problem — gender-based violence — around, we need the whole population to get involved and take a stand against abusers and machismo.”

“The ICI is promoting training across all areas, working with the education sector to raise awareness of gender-based violence in schools, and running various campaigns. These actions are helping to bring greater visibility to forms of violence that previously went unseen, but it is not enough. We need everyone to get involved to protect victims and combat the growing denial of gender-based violence,” she adds.

Alerts up 6.5% in a year

Ana Padrón says that, “as happened in July, this past August we once again exceeded the number of gender-based violence alerts received by the emergency helpline in a single month since it was set up in 1999”.

The number of calls recorded in August was 6.5% higher than in the same month of 2025. For the year to date, the 13,580 alerts recorded in the first eight months represent a 12% increase on the same period last year.

The islands’ emergency services for women experiencing violence (DEMA) were activated 216 times in August. A total of 43 women and their 23 children were given emergency accommodation to protect them from their abusers when they had nowhere else to stay.

In parallel, 1,148 police units and 80 medical teams were deployed during the month.

Most perpetrators were current or former partners

Most perpetrators were the victim’s current partner, in 841 cases, or former partner, in 482. Assaults by sons (70), strangers (60), fathers (25), friends (22) and brothers (16) were also recorded.

Almost 4% of the assaults were sexual, prompting the 112 service to activate 24-hour crisis centres on 35 occasions. Physical violence without sexual assault accounted for 41%, while a further 42% involved non-physical violence.

Alerts rise among women aged 18 to 35

By age group, alerts involving women aged 18 to 35 rose in August, to 405 from 372 in July. They also increased among women aged 76 to 97, from 15 to 18.

In the other age groups, 26 alerts involved girls under 18, compared with 32 in July; 343 involved women aged 36 to 55, down from 410 the previous month; and 103 involved women aged 56 to 75, compared with 109 in July.

The ICI director stresses the importance of calling 112 at any sign or suspicion of violence. She also highlights the rise in calls from bystanders who raised the alarm and from victims’ relatives.

In August, 38% of calls were made by the victim herself, 26% by bystanders who raised the alarm, 17% by institutions and 7% by relatives.

The ICI funds this specialist 112 service, which responds to situations of gender-based violence 24 hours a day, every day of the year. It also maintains a network of services across the Archipelago, in collaboration with the island councils, to inform, prevent and support victims. Five new 24-hour crisis centres for women who have experienced sexual violence were added to the network last year.