Catarroja approves pioneering anti‑gender violence protocol

Catarroja’s multidisciplinary local coordination table on violence against women agreed on May 14 to send a new municipal protocol for final approval, according to local and regional reports. The document sets out procedures for detection, prevention and municipal action in cases of sexist or gender-based violence. Local officials described it as a tool to tighten coordination among the services that first receive, assess and support victims. The move comes after the town spent recent months publicly reviewing its response framework following a confirmed gender-violence killing in the municipality. ### What exactly did Catarroja approve on May 14? The May 14 meeting did not mark the final legal adoption of the text. The coordination table agreed to elevate the new protocol for definitive approval, according to El Periódico, Valencia Extra and 7TeleValencia. The protocol’s full name, as cited in those reports, is a municipal protocol for the detection, prevention and response to sexist violence. The document is described as multidisciplinary and municipal in scope. Local coverage said it is meant to organize how different administrations, services and professionals act together when a case is detected, with the stated goal of improving protection and assistance for victims. ### Which services are supposed to work together under the protocol? Lorena Silvent, Catarroja’s mayor, said the protocol strengthens an existing network model the town has been using for years. (elperiodic.com) Reports on May 14 said the framework is designed to reinforce coordination among social services, police, health, education and legal resources. (elperiodic.com) The BOE published a separate but related security agreement in May 2025 showing that Catarroja’s local police were incorporated into Spain’s VioGén monitoring system for gender-violence cases. That agreement was signed on May 13, 2025, by the Secretary of State for Security and Silvent as mayor, adding a national case-tracking link to the town’s local response structure. ### Why are local officials calling it “pioneering”? Local reports on May 14 repeatedly called the document “pioneering,” but the published descriptions point to coordination rather than a wholly new legal category. (valenciaextra.com) The protocol is presented as a formal tool to standardize joint work among administrations, security forces and specialized resources already involved in victim care and protection. (boe.es) Levante-EMV said the text “perfects” a model of work Catarroja had already developed over several years through its local coordination table. That description suggests the novelty lies in consolidating prior practice into a more explicit municipal protocol. ### Did a recent case in Catarroja shape the timing? In December 2025, Catarroja decreed three days of official mourning after authorities confirmed the killing of a local woman, Natividad, as a case of gender violence, according to municipal and media reports. (elperiodic.com) The town also convened a multidisciplinary coordination meeting to review and reinforce prevention and institutional coordination protocols. (levante-emv.com) That sequence does not prove the new May 2026 protocol was drafted solely because of that case, but local reporting shows the municipality had already announced a review of its procedures after the killing. The May 14 decision fits into that documented process of revising and strengthening coordination mechanisms. ### What did the mayor say about the new framework? (catarroja.es) Lorena Silvent said the protocol is “a very important step” toward a more coordinated, comprehensive and effective response to sexist violence, according to Valencia Extra and 7TeleValencia. Her comments framed the measure as part of Catarroja’s broader equality and anti-violence work rather than as a standalone initiative. (diariodesevilla.es) The mayor’s office has also previously linked the town’s anti-violence work to cross-agency coordination. In an earlier municipal statement about Espai Lilith, a local resource center, Silvent said police and social services work jointly through a gender perspective. ### What happens next? The next procedural step is definitive approval of the protocol by Catarroja’s local coordination structure, as stated in the May 14 reports. (valenciaextra.com) Those same reports say the document will then serve as the working framework for the municipal services, administrations and specialists involved in detection, prevention and response. (elperiodic.com) (catarroja.es)