The Ministry of Equality continues to defend the law on the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom, known as the “only yes is yes law”, and called for “calm and prudence” until the decision of the Supreme Court and the prosecutor’s office. A week after the crisis began over the reduction of sentences used by some courts for sex offenders, the department, led by Irene Montero, claims that the essence of the law is “not more or less punishment” but a “paradigm shift”. The regulation of sex crimes now revolves solely around whether there was consent, not whether the aggressor used violence or intimidation.
This was defended this Monday by the Secretary of State for Equality, Angela Rodríguez, and the Government Delegate for Gender-Based Violence, Victoria Rosell, at the launch of the Ministry’s campaign against sexist violence on 25 November. “The debate is no longer about more or less punishment, but a change in the pattern: that consent is much more important than proving the existence of violence or intimidation, as it was before,” Rodríguez said of the new crime. Aggression, sexual, which includes old insults, is a criminal offense that is weakened for cases where there was no violence or intimidation.
This makes the new range of fines different, with some being reduced and some being raised. The Secretary of State assured that this change “has been accepted by many countries around us and it comes from the international mandate”, the Istanbul Convention, which was ratified by Spain in 2014. “There was a proposal that puts the elements in the center. Different and reflect differently some conduct that was already punishable and others that are becoming so,” added the Secretary of State.
Rodriguez and Rosell softened their criticism of the justices, avoiding attributing the cuts to “machismo,” an argument that was at the forefront of equality first speeches last week, but they continued to insist that the problem lies in judicial interpretation. Courts do. “Other specialization is needed to use this new model of the Criminal Code,” said the first.
According to Rosell, the flow of proposals that consider and reduce some proposals – “very few” – is the result of “automatism” and he called for “calmness and prudence”, avoid “alarm” and wait for the Supreme Court to decide and there are “uniform and uniform criteria” for the prosecution , according to the delegate of the government against sexist violence in an interview given this weekend on elDiario.es. Because the different interpretations “are not between government or equality and propositions, but between them. They are the ones who decide against each other,” he said, referring to the courts. Some, for example in Madrid, the Balearic Islands or Galicia, realized that some fines should be reduced, contrary to what is established in La Rioja.
The ministry this Monday also addressed a series of measures, in addition to the reform of the Criminal Code, which includes the norm. “Aggressors were already going to jail under the previous criminal code, which is new, and what really protects victims are the rights they have, such as guaranteed 24-hour psychological support,” Rodriguez said. “We look at the past and see the unintended consequences, and we believe they will be perfectly corrected, but if we look to the present and the future, this law will better protect women,” Rosell added.
25N to challenge men
The Ministry of Equality called the media this Monday to present the campaign it is launching in connection with 25N, which is “for the first time” aimed at men. Under the slogan “So Who?”, the campaign aims to interrogate them “as the cause of violence against women and, at the same time, as an essential part of ending that violence.” To do this, she sends the following message: “We all know victims of sexist violence, but hardly anyone knows the aggressor. If neither you nor I were, then who? If you’re not going to do anything to stop it, then who is?
“This is a campaign that sets a precedent in public policy against sexist violence that has been implemented in Spain. “We’ve had decades of mostly women being sent messages that it’s necessary, but there was a message floating in the air: What is the role of men in the fight against machismo?” the Secretary of State noted. Equality.
Source: El Diario
