During the Pamplona bull-running festival six years ago, an 18-year-old woman was sexually assaulted by five men in the lobby of a building. She was observed to be still and with her eyes closed during the assault, on a cell phone video taken by the perpetrators. Her situation, together with the initial failure to convict the men of rape, sparked a national uprising in Spain. In August, it inspired Parliament to enact legislation on consent that, in the opinion of analysts, has the potential to change the country's approach to sexual behaviour.
The term "affirmative consent" is required by law. It explicitly states that a person cannot offer consent if they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or if they are unconscious. Only 12 of the 31 European nations Amnesty International studied in 2020 have laws defining rape as intercourse without permission. Most of them required evidence of some use of force, threats, or compulsion, as well as the victim's helplessness to defend themselves, to qualify as rape. In the absence of such a rule, victims frequently had to undergo a second trauma: proving in court that they had attempted to rebuff the perpetrator, which only served to undermine the number of cases being reported under the old legislation.
According to the new law, any sexual activity that occurs without clear consent can now be classified as rape. Before the law was passed, there had to be some form of coercion or violence involved for an act to qualify as rape. Otherwise, it would have been considered sexual abuse, a less serious offence. Advocates of the new law applaud it as a forceful declaration of women's rights, joining other nations like Canada, Sweden, and Denmark that have taken a similar stance on rape and consent. Depending on the gravity of the case, the new law specifies multiple levels of convictions for sexual aggressors, with offenders risking anything from fines to 15 years in prison. It also outlines several other aggravating factors for rape cases, including harsher penalties for group rapes, victims who are weaker individuals, boyfriends or relatives of the victim, and rapists who drug their victims. The statute also permits criminal prosecution for street harassment.
This bill could prove to be instrumental in the formulation of stringent rape laws across the globe. Countries such as India, where there are a large portion of cases which goes unreported, could present a safer space for women to share their trauma and seek justice. The legislative process for the new law took about two years. With 205 votes in favour and 141 votes against, Spain's lower house handed it final approval on Thursday, 25 August 2022.
Comments