The Community of Madrid will have the first public centre in Spain dedicated to helping women leave prostitutiona new space that will offer users social, legal, psychological and intercultural mediation services, among others, and will also provide them with resources and tools for their integration into the labor market.
The Board of Governors recently approved a investment of 1.7 million euros for this new device, whose contract will run from November 1 of this year to December 31, 2026.
The headquarters of the resource will be located in a municipality close to areas where a greater number of prostituted women are detected due to its proximity to industrial areas and main communication routes, sources from the Ministry of Family, Youth and Social Affairs told Europa Press.
To do this, the data provided by the State Security Forces and Corps, as well as the Mobile Unit of the Community of Madrid, will be taken into account. Although it is very difficult to give an exact number of women who practice prostitution in the Community of Madrid, since in many cases they are hidden, this mobile unit has Around 500 women engaged in street prostitution have been detectede, which was used to estimate the care provided in day centers for around 200 women.
This pioneering and unique space in Spain was announced at the end of February by Ana Dávila in the Madrid Breakfasts of Europa Press where she explained that, although the Community of Madrid is already working in this area, the allocation of a center gives “more importance” to this problem with the aim “that all these women recover their lives, are autonomous and independent.”
It will be managed through a service contract by one of the entities participating in the call for tenders that will be launched soon. The experience most similar to this device is that of the Concepción Arenal center of the Madrid City Council for women victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation and in prostitution contexts.
Until now, these women were cared for in centres for victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation. However, the Community understands that the problems of these women in prostitution are “different”, which is why it considers that they must have “their own specific resource for their problems”.
A vast network of centers
Since 2005, the Regional Executive has launched a vast regional network composed of emergency centers, reception centers, guarded apartments, residences for victims of trafficking for the purpose of exploitation, for young people, prisoners and ex-detainees, which total a total of 143 accommodation places for women, their children and dependents.
Furthermore, since 2009, the Ministry of Family, Youth and Social Affairs has had the Centre for Comprehensive Care for Women Victims of Sexual Violence (CIMASCAM), with which the region has been a pioneer in this type of assistance; this type in Spain.
It also has a 24-hour Crisis Centre, which will open in 2023 and specialises in victims of sexual violence 365 days a year, and will have another one this year with accommodation places, in which the regional government will invest 2.7 million euros. In addition, there is another space to help victims of violence with intellectual disabilities.
