List of incidents of violence against women in Spain

This is a list of incidents of violence against women in Spain. The Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality publishes statistics on violence against women and counts every death. Also, media in Spain reports every case of violence against women that results in a death.

In 2004 Spain passed a world-first gender-based violence law that introduced special courts that deal with cases where the survivor’s gender is an aggravating factor. In 20 years they have dealt with 2 million complaints and convicted 700,000 people, 72% being men.

Since 2003 the Spanish government has been counting gender violence murders and by December 2022 they had reached 1,183, 377 children have been made orphans and 48 children have been killed.

Spain was an initial signatory on 11 May 2011 of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (CETS No. 210), known as the “Istanbul Convention”, which was ratified by Spain on 10 April 2014 and came into effect on 1 August 2014. The Istanbul Convention is a legally-binding instrument which "creates a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combat violence against women" and is focused on preventing domestic violence, protecting victims and prosecuting accused offenders.

1990s

 * January 21, 1992: Marta Obregón Rodríguez: A 22-year-old Spanish woman was returning home when she was kidnapped by a man and taken out of town so he could use her sexually. She was stabbed 14 times but would not allow him to rape her.
 * November 13, 1992: Alcasser Girls: 3 teenage girls from Alcàsser, Valencia, Spain, were kidnapped, raped, assaulted and murdered after hitchhiking to get to a nightclub.
 * April 12, 1993: Kidnapping of Anabel Segura: 2 men kidnap and later (when she was trying to escape) murder a 22-year-old woman.
 * December 17, 1997: Ana Orantes: After her testimony was shown on a television program, she was killed by her last husband.  It caused a big repercussion about gender violence, and as a consequence, the restructuring of the Criminal Code of Spain.
 * April 20, 1997: Murder of Eva Blanco: Spanish high school student was murdered in Algete, Community of Madrid. The case remained unsolved until 2015.
 * October 9, 1999: Murder of Rocío Wanninkhof: a Dutch-Spanish teenager who was murdered in her hometown of Mijas.

2000s

 * December 2, 2001: Murder of Helena Jubany: a librarian who was murdered in Sabadell.
 * May 17, 2003: Murder of Sandra Palo: A 22-year-old woman was raped, run over by a car and burnt alive by 4 minors (in the 14-18 age range) in Madrid.
 * May 24, 2003: A man (34) shoots his wife (29) in La Puebla de Híjar Teruel. He killed another woman in 2019.
 * August 14, 2003: Murder of Sonia Carabantes: Murder of a 17-year-old girl that helped to solve the case of Rocío Wanninkhof
 * January 24, 2009: Murder of Marta del Castillo: a Spanish high school student who disappeared and was presumably murdered.

Summary 2003 to 2022

 * Women killed in gender violence cases


 * 2003: 71 women
 * 2004: 72 women
 * 2005: 57 women
 * 2006: 69 women
 * 2007: 71 women
 * 2008: 76 women
 * 2009: 56 women


 * 2010: 73 women
 * 2011: 62 women
 * 2012: 52 women
 * 2013: 54 women
 * 2014: 55 women
 * 2015: 60 women
 * 2016: 49 women


 * 2017: 50 women
 * 2018: 53 women
 * 2019: 55 women
 * 2020: 47 women
 * 2021: 43 women
 * 2022: 49 women

2012

 * Women killed in gender violence cases:


 * June 30, 2012: A man kills and butchers his partner in Cadrete.

2015
60 women were killed in Spain in cases of gender violence

Gender violence murders
49 women were killed in gender violence cases.

Other cases

 * July 7: La Manada sexual abuse case: A group of five men sexually abused an 18-year-old girl in a portal.
 * August 22: Murder of Diana Quer: An 18-year-old woman is abducted and murdered.
 * August 24, 2016: A man ties his ex-wife to her bed and beats her in front of their children in Villa de Vallecas.

Gender violence murders
50 women were killed in gender violence cases.

Gender violence murders
50 were killed in gender violence cases.

Gender violence murders
55 women were killed in gender violence cases.

2020
In 2020 there were 29,215 female victims of violence recorded in Spain and in calendar year 2020 25,436 men were convicted of gender violence against women.

In 2020, 36% of people reported for gender related violence were not born in Spain.

Gender violence murders
45 women were killed in gender violence cases.

2021
In 2021 there were 30,141 female victims of violence recorded in Spain and in calendar year 2021, 33,068 men were convicted of gender violence against women.

Relationship of victim reporting crime, to the perpetrator:


 * Wife - 5,498
 * Common law partner - 6,835
 * Girlfriend - 3,801


 * Breaking up - 296


 * Former wife - 1,520
 * Former common law partner - 6,777
 * Former girlfriend - 5,414

Gender violence murders
44 women were killed in gender violence cases.

2022
In 2022 there were 32,644 female victims of violence recorded in Spain and in calendar year 2022, 36,161 people were convicted of violence against women.

Gender violence murders
49 women were killed in gender violence cases.

2023
In December 2022 there were 43,670 women under active police protection and the police had 75,140 active cases.