Rector's statement to the university community

The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona wishes to reiterate its support to all the victims affected by the situations of abuse and harassment that have been made public these days, as well as to all the people in our community who have lived or are living similar situations.

In order to continue making progress, it is essential to rebuild and reinforce all the bridges that make it possible to achieve a space of trust in which victims feel fully accompanied and protected by individuals or institutions when reporting any action that violates their rights.

As a university, we have an institutional responsibility that always relies on the essential involvement of our entire community. In this sense, we would like to value and sincerely thank the sentiment expressed by the Governing Council as a whole, which was manifested in the institutional statement of 16 March. 

Likewise, from the General Secretariat, through the Observatory for Equality, we will continue working jointly and in coordination with the people in charge of the centres, those responsible for Equality and the delegates for Equality to advance and at the same time to build protection networks, always prioritizing the victims. We will intensify training to all groups of the university community in relation to the procedures established in the protocol to improve the protection of the victim and prevent situations of helplessness.

Now more than ever we need a collective commitment in the joint struggle of the university community to move towards the shared goal of having a campus free of aggression. 

The protocols we have in place have mechanisms to establish support and accompaniment measures for those affected. But, undoubtedly, we must continue to work together to achieve contexts of trust and safe spaces that allow victims to report without fear. We regret the lack of agility in some of these processes and we will continue to work to improve the necessary internal procedures.

And it is in relation to the necessary reduction of deadlines in some procedures arising from the application of the Protocol to prevent and act against sexual harassment, harassment based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, and sexist violence, that we urge the governments of the country and the State to urgently modify the current legal framework to ensure greater efficiency in the resolution of the processes. Likewise, we also demand that we be provided with more tools and resources to improve the accompaniment of victims, in order to avoid revictimization and to allow us to be more agile and proactive in the application of reparation mechanisms.

The complaints channeled through the UAB's Observatory for Equality have allowed the sanctioning of proven behaviors of sexual or gender-based harassment by lecturers against women in the university community. The last report, presented to the Senate in December, shows the requests, opening of files and resolutions adopted, always with the principles of confidentiality and data protection to which we are obliged by law.

These actions demonstrate the Government Team's firm commitment to transparency and firm action in the face of any attitude or conduct that may constitute a case of sexism and to work in a transversal manner to guarantee a university free of violence against women.