The Barcelona Prosecutor's Office has launched a specialized vulnerability unit, the first of its kind in Spain. Five prosecutors will handle cases where the victims are minors or vulnerable for other reasons, interpreting this concept broadly: they will address cases affecting children, the elderly, or people with disabilities, but also those involving "situational vulnerability," such as power imbalances or victims of serious crimes like sexual assault. The focus will be on preventing the revictimization of those affected.

Catalonia has recovered some of its labor market momentum after the pandemic, but there is a worrying group of 1.4 million workers for whom employment does not free them from living trapped in poverty and without opportunities for social mobility.Job insecurity is the new normal "For a segment of society," according to Cáritas, in a report on exclusion and social development prepared with the FOESSA Foundation based on interviews with 140,000 households across the country and across all socioeconomic backgrounds. The study concludes that the overall improvement in macroeconomic indicators is not reflected in daily life. Many family members are employed, and even those fortunate enough to access social benefits struggle to make ends meet. In this dramatic equation of an active labor market and increased social vulnerability, it is important to consider that salary increases do not offset rising prices (the CPI). The difficulties faced by undocumented immigrants in finding work also contribute to this. Furthermore, exorbitant housing prices force families into precarious living conditions. sublet rooms or to allocate more than half of the income to pay rent or mortgages to avoid becoming homeless.

Not only are they exorbitant prices in the free housing market wave scarcity of public promotions, social organizations also encounter a difficult barrier to overcome in the reluctance of owners when it comes to renting out apartments to vulnerable groups. Some explain that everything is going well until it is revealed that the apartment will be used to house an abused woman and her children, a group of people with disabilities or mental illness, or a family with limited financial resources.

A year ago, none of the nine young people had any idea about circuits or voltages, and today, under the guidance of a teacher, they have been able to assemble photovoltaic panels and electric charging stations for vehicles. By the end of May, and after 930 hours of training and practice, they will be able to work as assistants in the renewable energy sector. And if they pass the exam for the green certificate, they will even be qualified to sign electrical reports. Dayana González, 28 and the mother of a two-year-old, is the only woman on the team. With a safety helmet in hand, she explains that she already dreams of starting her own company and being its leader.

Efforts to combat school segregation have not made the grade. In fact, in some respects it is getting worse. Two years ago, political institutions and the educational community committed themselves in a solemn pact to combat this problem, one of the main problems that hinder the quality and fairness of the system. The initiative was promoted by the Department of Education and the Catalan Ombudsman, and practically everyone joined in, including private schools and the various players in education. But so far those good intentions have remained a dead letter. Too often writing good laws and good reports is relatively easy, but putting them into practice is another matter. This should not be the case.

The Catalonia of vulnerable neighbourhoods is an often invisible reality. Many prefer not to see it. Many have never set foot in an uncomfortable reality. This weekend ARA is portraying it: we have gone there, we have talked to the neighbours, we have asked the experts... The portrait that emerges is that of areas that feel forgotten and stigmatised, trapped in a vicious circle of lack of opportunities and urban degradation that does nothing but rot and prolong the problems eternally. Attempts to reverse the situation, which there have been, have in most cases never succeeded due to lack of continuity and resources. The two crises of this 21st century have been lethal for some neighbourhoods that are now living immersed in the drama of the pandemic. With the housing problem as a decisive factor, unemployment, educational and health deficits, the weakness of associations and commerce, and petty crime often associated with drugs are other factors that are repeated in many of these neighbourhoods, both in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (especially along the Besòs river) and other urban environments in the districts of Girona, Lleida and Tarragona. Among these neighbourhoods there are some very well known and marked, while others, which also suffer degraded situations, are directly ignored by a large majority of Catalans. As if they did not exist.

The Generalitat has identified 236 vulnerable areas throughout Catalonia. Many are neighbourhoods; others, specific areas of small municipalities that also require special attention from the administration. This list includes everything from the Congost neighbourhood in Granollers or Camp Clar in Tarragona, to the old quarter of Alfarràs, a municipality in Segrià with 2,800 inhabitants.

"Barcelona is more unequal than before. Despite the periods of growth we've had, poverty rates have not gone down", says anthropologist José Mansilla. Most of the most vulnerable areas of Catalonia are concentrated in the metropolitan area, along the Llobregat and Besòs rivers, while in the center of the Catalan capital, with the exception of Raval and Barceloneta, according to Mansilla, there has been a process of gentrification that has driven many low-income residents to the outskirts of the city.