Known as the law of “only yes is yes”the new norm “comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom” was approved by Congress this Thursday by 205 votes in favor and 141 against.
The text, which implies a penal code reform Spanish, places “consent” at the center, which will only be understood “when it has been freely expressed through acts that clearly express the will of the person“. The use of violence or intimidation will therefore no longer be necessary to classify a crime of violationas it was until now.
“Finally our country recognizes by law that consent is what has to be at the center of all our sexual relations,” he congratulated Irene MonteroMinister of Equality of the government of Pedro Sánchez, at the gates of Congress.
The Pack case
This issue was key in the case of “La Manada”, the gang rape in 2016 of an 18-year-old girl during the San Fermin Holidays in Pamplona (north) by five men who recorded the events, boasting of their actions and sharing the images by WhatsApp.
His sentence in the first instance, in April 2018, was nine years in prison for the crime of sexual abuse. Defined by the absence of violence or intimidation, this crime, which carried less stringent penalties, will now disappear with the new law.
That first sentence provoked massive mobilizations of women in Spain under the slogan “I do believe you“, in addition to numerous requests to toughen the Penal Code. Finally, in June 2019, the Spanish Supreme Court corrected the sentence and considered that there was rape, for which he raised the sentences to 15 years in prison.
Comprehensive law against sexual violence
Since coming to power in June 2018, the government of socialist Pedro Sánchez has promised to adopt a law on explicit consent.
The law “only yes is yes” also contemplates as a crime the street harassmentdevelop the sex-affective education at school and strengthens care and compensation for victims of sexual violence.
This law that reinforces resources against sexual violence was “expected and desired,” Marisa Soleto, president of the Women’s Foundation, one of the most influential feminist organizations in Spain, told AFP in July. “What we hope is that it will promote a social behavior changesaid.
Explicit consent in other European countries
On the issue of consent, the government asserted that it was directly inspired by the Istanbul Convention of Council of European international treaty adopted in 2011 that establishes norms to fight against gender-based violence.
According to a study of International Amnesty of 2020, 12 of 31 European countries analyzed define rape from lack of consent, beyond coercion or vulnerability, among them Belgium, Denmark, Sweden Y United Kingdom.
Germanyfor example, tightened its legislation in 2017 to make lack of consent the sole criterion for defining rape.
Source: Ambito
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