Pilar Costa, minister for equality, in parliament on Tuesday. | Miquel A. Cañellas

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Pilar Costa, the minister for the presidency and equality, said in parliament on Tuesday that the government is intensifying still more its fight against sexual exploitation.

The government, she stated, "has been working for a great deal of time" in addressing violence against women and the sexual exploitation of women and girls in particular. The government's monitoring committee, she explained, has a plan against sexual exploitation with agreed actions by each institution that has responsibilities for this. The main lines of work are "coordination for the better protection of minors and for prosecuting the exploiters" as well as more training for personnel.

Costa faced criticism from Sergio Rodríguez of Vox, who argued that the committee's plan "has been shown to be inoperative" and insisted that a 2.8 million euros budget should be used "to protect minors". Instead, he suggested, the Balearics Institute for Women "has become a veritable machine for hate against men". Money for this institute should be used to improve care centres for minors.

The minister attacked Rodríguez for using such a serious matter as a way to ridicule the institute. "Rather than wanting to be part of the solution, he prefers to further the problem."