translated from Spanish: Mexico approves punishing digital harassment with up to six years in prison

The Mexican Chamber of Deputies passed this Thursday the so-called Olympic Law against digital harassment, a legal reform to impose sentences of up to six years in prison for disseminating images of intimate and sexual content without the consent of the person involved. With 446 votes for and one against, deputies generally endorsed the reform of the Criminal Code and the General Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free of Violence that was passed by the Senate last November. The text, which must be promulgated by the Executive, considers it a crime to take and distribute images of intimate and sexual content without the consent of the person involved. Digital harassment will be punishable by prison terms of between three and six years, and high fines. In addition, aggravations are foreeseed when the crime is committed by the victim’s spouse, public office or someone with whom he or she has a romantic relationship, as well as when done for profit. The reform will punish digital violence against women across Mexico, where 19 of the 32 states already provide in their state legislation for punishment against digital abuse. A group of women camped in the house of deputies in recent days to demand the passage of the so-called Olympia Act, including activist Olimpia Coral, who gives its name to legal reform. Coral suffered digital violence at the age of 18 when a video in which she had sex with her boyfriend was broadcast on social media. During the debate, semi-presidential by the covid-19 pandemic, the deputy of the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena, left) Rocío Carolina Pozos denounced that digital violence causes “serious harm to the dignity and integrity” of women, who are “condemned to social isolation”. For her part, Veronica Maria Sobrado, of the conservative and opposition National Action Party (PAN), celebrated the initiative as “important legislative breakthrough” that “will undoubtedly provide protection to women and girls”. Last March it was the most violent for women in all of Mexico since the National Public Safety System began gender registration in 2015.The authorities recorded 267 women as alleged victims of intentional homicide, a record number, in addition to 95 other alleged victims of femicide, as prosecutors classify murders on the basis of gender or sexist violence.

Original source in Spanish