The crime of gender violence will include economic and digital violence

BarcelonaThe majority of the Congress of Deputies, with the sole exception of the Vox group, gave the final green light on Wednesday to the new state pact against gender violence, which includes 462 measures for the next five years. The criminalization of economic and digital violence against women, the reinforcement of the protection of victims of vicarious violence or the elimination of the mitigating factors of confession or reparation of damage in gender-based violence are some of the most notable initiatives included in the parliamentary agreement.

The plan, which has been approved in the plenary session of the lower house after it was endorsed in committee last week, is endowed with 1.5 billion euros for the next five years, 50% more budget than the previous pact. Of that money, 800 million will go to the autonomous communities, 500 million to the State administration and the remaining 200 to local entities.

Economic and digital violence

The agreement aims to classify economic and digital violence as gender-based violence crimes in the Penal Code. In the first case, it is intended to include not only the case of non-payment of pensions, but also conduct such as the concealment of assets, fraud, misappropriation or disloyal administration. With regard to the digital sphere, it is intended to classify gender-based cybercrime and, among others, punish with prison anyone who uses artificial intelligence to create fake pornography without consent.

Vicarious violence

There is a call to reform the law to include minor children of abused women as victims of gender violence, with the aim of preventing them from living with or visiting an abusive father. There is also a commitment to improving educational and health protocols for early detection of vicarious violence and to design safe mechanisms so that minors can report it.

Criminal and judicial reforms

The document agrees to remove the mitigating factors of confession and reparation for damages in cases of gender-based violence. This second assumption is the one taken into account, for example, when the conviction of footballer Dani Alves was placed at the lower end of the sexual assault crime, after he paid 150,000 euros to the courts before the trial. It also provides, among other things, for centralizing all the procedures that affect a victim in a single judicial body and for requiring evaluable and compulsory training in gender-based violence in the judiciary.

Protection of victims

An increase in the number of police officers assigned to combat gender violence is established and the risk criteria for granting protection orders are expanded. In addition, twenty measures are articulated so that the health system is the gateway to the protection of victims, with instruments for early detection, psychological care for orphans and also for aggressors who request it voluntarily.

Sexual exploitation

The pact reiterates the need to approve a comprehensive law against trafficking. It also calls for discouraging the consumption of prostitution, promoting legal changes to "combat the advertising of prostitution in all its forms", fighting pimping and improving care for victims.

Second-order violence

The aim is to recognise second-order gender-based violence and protect those who suffer from it. That is, physical or psychological violence exercised against people who support victims, including professionals.