Pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago alone report experiencing “terrifying” sexual harassment in near-desert areas of rural Spain, Portugal and France. In interviews with Tutornine women who have walked the path over the past five years say they have been victims of harassment and several say they fear for their lives.
Seven of them claim to have met men in Spain and Portugal who masturbated or touched themselves in their presence. One of the pilgrims was chased by one of these men through the countryside. One of the women says she had to resist unwanted touching and lewd comments from several men, while another pilgrim says a man stopped near a van and urged her to get in on board. The incidents usually occur when women walk alone in remote sections of the Camino.
Lorena Gaibor, founder of Camigas, an online forum that has been connecting pilgrims since 2015, says the allegations are shocking, but not surprising: “Sexual harassment is endemic. This is something very common. Every year, we receive complaints from women who experience this type of situation.
These routes are deemed safe and saying otherwise is taboo.
Marie-Albert
— journalist
Rosie, 25, says she was walking along a wooded path in Portugal earlier this summer when she passed a man without pants masturbating. Local police did not respond to his calls. “I was very scared,” says Rosie, who asked that her full name not be published: “I felt like I was completely alone.” He became aware of his vulnerability by walking the path alone and felt like he was taking risks. “Doing the Camino de Santiago is an incredible experience, because it’s very difficult, very physically demanding and very mentally demanding,” he says. “But there is an additional element that solo hikers face, a serious safety issue, which completely affects the ability to face or enjoy these other challenges as others do.” he.
230,000 women per year
In recent years, the popularity of the various pilgrimage routes known collectively as the Camino de Santiago has exploded, particularly among women. According to Pedro Blanco, government delegate in Galicia, last year 446,000 people walked the Camino, 53% of them women. In statements to the media, Blanco highlighted that “more than 230,000 women did it last year, and many of them did not hesitate to do it alone.”
Marie Albert, a journalist who defines herself as an adventurer and feminist writer, says that we don’t talk enough about the risks faced by pilgrims: “We say that these routes are safe and to say the opposite is taboo.” In 2019, as Albert traveled 700 km across northern Spain to reach Santiago de Compostela, he documented several attacks. One man tried to kiss her and another masturbated in front of her. One man harassed her via text message and another followed her down the street. Sometimes her attackers were pilgrims who were walking the same path as her, so she was terrified of crossing paths with them again.
Among the nine women who spoke with Tutorsix reported the incidents to the police. In only one case did police locate and arrest the attacker.
In recent years, the media has covered some of these incidents. In 2018, a 50-year-old Venezuelan woman was allegedly kidnapped and raped by two men while walking in northwest Spain. Last year, Spanish police arrested a 48-year-old man accused of holding a 24-year-old German pilgrim at his home against her will and sexually assaulting her. In 2019, Portuguese police arrested a 78-year-old man accused of kidnapping and attempting to rape a German pilgrim.
Concern over the safety of pilgrims arose in 2015 after the disappearance of American pilgrim Denise Thiem in a rural area of the province of León (Spain). His disappearance led several pilgrims to tell their own stories of threats and harassment, before a court sentenced a Spaniard to 23 years in prison in 2017 for Thiem’s murder.
Safety campaign
In 2021, the Spanish government launched a safety campaign that has since expanded to 1,600 points throughout Galicia, where pilgrims can access information in multiple languages on how to contact emergency services.
Johnnie Walker, one of the administrators of Camino de Santiago All Routes, a social media forum with more than 450,000 members, says there has long been frustration with the lack of statistics, even though efforts have been stepped up to prevent such incidents. .
In this sense, he points out that “as the number of pilgrims has increased, so have reports of men harassing women pilgrims.” In response, the Civil Guard has intensified its patrols on several roads.
Their forum has long advised pilgrims in Spain to download the AlertCops app, which allows them to contact the police directly. “There is always a balance to be struck between warning women and raising the alarm,” she says: “However, some of us believe this issue now needs to be addressed more forcefully and consistently across the country. »
In response to a request for information from Tutorthe Portuguese police explained that they had received five complaints from pilgrims since 2023, all linked to incidents of exhibitionism. None of the suspects have been identified and no arrests have been made. In a statement, police said that between May and October they had stepped up patrols on several Portuguese roads to better protect pilgrims.
Tutor He also contacted the Spanish and French police, as well as the interior ministries of those countries, but they did not respond to the request for information. Asked whether there was an official count of pilgrims who reported incidents of harassment over the past five years, the Government Delegation in Galicia stressed in a statement that it was not aware of any cases of harassment. sexual assault against pilgrims. The Government Delegation in Galicia has launched a series of initiatives aimed at protecting people who travel the Camino de Santiago, such as specific police patrols along the routes and an established protocol that requires the dispatch of security forces to every time a call is received. a pilgrim.
