The law would toughen punishments for sexual offences, inlcuding qualifying all non-consensual sex as rape.
Written by Belén Carreño and Paola Luelmo, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Madrid, March 3 – Spain’s left-wing government approved a bill on Tuesday that would qualify all non-consensual sex as rape, acting on a pre-election promise to strengthen laws in defence of women’s rights.
The draft law, which faces months of debate in parliament, seeks to establish specialized courts for dealing with sexual offences and round-the-clock recovery centres for victims. It would increase jail penalties for work-related sexual harassment to up to two years and make catcalling a criminal offence.
Combating gender violence has been high on Spain’s political agenda since its women’s rights movement was galvanised by the 2016 “Wolf Pack” trial, in which five men referring to themselves by that name were jailed for sexual abuse after gang-raping a young woman at the Pamplona bull-running festival.
