The PP will contest the general elections on July 23 with a package of measures to fight against “macho violence& rdquor; much broader than that proposed in previous electoral calls. And it does it after closing two governments in coalition with Voxin the Valencian Community and in Extremadura, in which the debate on gender violence has been more present than ever. Alberto Núñez Feijóo presents the complete electoral program this Tuesday and the epigraph on this matter begins like this: “Eradicate male violence and any form of violence against women is a priority objective for our formation. We won’t take steps back”.
The popular ones include in their program the reform of the organic law of the judiciary so that the courts of violence against women “assume the competence of all the crimes included in the Istanbul Convention”, as as required by the law of ‘only yes is yes’. This rule of the current Ministry of Equality, whose reform was agreed between PSOE and PP to once again raise the penalties for sexual crimes after the incessant trickle of reductions in sentences, includes in its final provision the obligation that within a period of one year that specific change in the law is carried out.
That the PP expressly mentions it, ensuring that the Istanbul Convention (ratified by Spain in 2014) “will serve as a guideline for all the advances in the fight against gender violence & rdquor ;, becomes important because a few days agos Santiago Abascal openly acknowledged on TVE that “I didn’t know” the content of said agreement without being able to clarify if he would bet on Spain withdrawing from it in the event that his party entered the central government.
In addition, the electoral program of 23-J also includes “strengthen family care units and women (UFAM) of the National Policeand the Women-Minor teams (EMUME) of the Civil Guard”. The popular ones assure that they will provide the Victim Assistance Offices in the courts with sufficient personnel and resources, as well as the Comprehensive Forensic Assessment Units, “so that the precise technical reports are not delayed & rdquor ;.
Along the same lines, they propose extending completion of the initiation course about gender violence to allpublic workers who care for women victims of this violence & rdquor ;; and promote, through the victim assistance offices, greater and effective access to the different areas of help that they may need during criminal proceedings, such as services of psychologists, criminologists and social workers.
Mark distances with Vox… and with Casado
In recent weeks and despite the hundreds of pacts that PP has signed with Vox in town halls throughout Spain and in various autonomies for the constitution of the autonomous assemblies, the two formations have gone through moments of great tension on account of the different positions on gender violence. The popular ones demanded the departure of the Valencian Vox candidate, Carlos Flores (on whom a 2002 sentence against his ex-wife for verbal sexist violence weighs), whom the ultras decided to place in the Congress of Deputies. The objective for the PP was not to enter the government of Carlos Mazón.
In the Valencian agreement the term “macho violence” did not appear, but “intra-family & rdquor; (the formula on which Vox intends to dilute specific violence against women). But days later, in the Balearic Islands and even in Extremadura, where Vox will finally enter with a counselor, There is already express talk of “eradicating sexist discourses & rdquor;.
In addition to marking distance with Vox, the electoral program of this 23J (the first under the baton of Feijóo) contains differences with that of Pablo Casado of 2019. The previous leader of the PP only had three points in the section on gender violence. One of them was to reform the Penal Code to “extend the assumptions of reviewable permanent imprisonment to murder cases in which some cases of accredited gender violence concur& rdquor ;, something that no longer appears. Vox also asks for life imprisonment for more cases.
The popular ones are betting for these elections for a measure that “improves the technology used for the control of sentences, security measures and precautionary removal & rdquor ;, which guarantees “wider coverage and greater precision in the quality of the possible spatial location of system users.
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What does appear in this programme, as in 2019 and in 2016 by Mariano Rajoy, is the comprehensive organic law to combat trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. An issue that in this legislature the PP has also defended in the Congress of Deputies (also during the process of amendments to the law of only yes is yes, and in the reform itself agreed with the PSOE) and for which they defend “a comprehensive protection statute that allows their recovery and regain control over their lives & rdquor ;, “chasing the pimps and the economic benefit extracted from this activity by third parties & rdquor ;.
In addition, the PP insists on complying with the State pact against gender violence “promoted by our party& rdquor; (in 2017, under the Rajoy Executive) “evaluating each of its measures and updating the contents for greater effectiveness, so that no woman who needs it is left without due protection& rdquor ;; as well as combat cases of sexist violence, especially among those under 18 years of age, “typifying digital violence & rdquor;, thus avoiding threats or psychological violence on mobile phones and other digital devices. It is another of the issues that Cuca Gamarra addressed in his negotiation with the Socialists.