The Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT) has criticized this Monday the "obscurantism" that, in its opinion, surrounds the reform of the compensations announced by the Ministry of the Interior, aimed at equalizing the aid regardless of whether there is a criminal sentence or not. The entity considers that this modification "generates false expectations" and that it has been promoted with "haste".
According to the AVT in a statement, "far from solving inequalities, it may increase revictimization." Last Tuesday, October 20, the Council of Ministers approved a royal decree-law from the department headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, with which the Law 29/2011 on the recognition and comprehensive protection of victims of terrorism is modified.
However, the association argues that the new regulation opens the door to new differences in treatment. "We denounce the false expectations generated in the collective, which has been led to believe that their compensations would be increased when, in reality, few will benefit and, moreover, the collection of the amounts provided will be delayed for up to three years," they have specified.
Although the AVT admits that it is a "historical claim," it reproaches the Government for the lack of information provided during the processing of this reform and criticizes that it has been promoted in the midst of an electoral pre-campaign, without sufficient dialogue with the affected associations.
"The uncertainty and unclear responses that the victims are receiving from the Ministry of the Interior about who will be able to benefit and what amounts they will be entitled to are generating a new situation of revictimization," they have emphasized from the organization.
In this line, the AVT questions why the modification of the compensation system is being addressed now, at the end of the legislature, while other "equally important commitments" remain pending, such as the implementation of a sanctioning regime against acts of glorification of terrorism or the approval of a protocol of action after a terrorist attack.
"Victims of terrorism deserve real solutions, not hasty announcements that generate false expectations and new injustices," the association has concluded.