Spain's Parliament Gives The Green Light To 'Only Yes Means Yes' Consent Bill

The Spanish lower house of parliament has approved a bill that qualifies all non-consensual sex as rape.

The new legislation has been in the works for more than two years and was approved by 195 votes with 3 abstentions. It does however still face an upper house vote but will enter into force if approved.

The new law will mean that consent is a major factor in sexual assault cases, with sexual assault survivors no longer having to prove that violence or intimidation was used against them.

It is hoped that the new bill known as “Only yes means yes”, will tackle the blurred lines of what is consent in Spanish law. Without a compiled definition the law has, for a very long time, depended on the victim to supply evidence of resistance, intimidation or violence in order to decipher whether a criminal act had taken place.

The new bill determines ‘consent’ as an explicit expression of a person’s will. It makes it clear that silence or apathy ‘do not equal consent’. Having non-consensual sex with a person can lead to a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

Having long been backed by Spain’s leftwing coalition government, the draft will now go to a vote in the Senate before it can actually become law.

Back in 2016, there was complete uproar over the ‘Wolf Pack’ gang-rape case that happened during the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona. The five men accused of rape were only found guilty of sexual abuse, not rape, as the victim wasn’t believed to have objected to what was happening.

The sentencing of the five men caused extensive protests against their convictions with calls for Spain to join the dozen other countries in Europe, that define rape as ‘sex without consent’, according to a 2020 analysis by Amnesty International.

It also attracted international attention in the wake of the #MeToo movement and led to an appeal in 2019 in which the Supreme Court ruled that the men had in fact committed rape, issuing them with longer sentences.

Other courses of action that are included in the draft bill are, helping minors who commit sexual crimes to undergo sex education, gender equality training, and creating a network of 24-hour crisis centres for sexual assault survivors and their families.

The Minister for Equality, Irene Montero (pictured) told parliament that “The mottos 'only yes is yes' and 'sister I do believe you' can finally turn into a law.

“From today, Spain is a freer, safer country for all women. We are going to swap violence for freedom, we are going to swap fear for desire."

Source

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/26/spanish-parliament-approves-only-yes-means-yes-consent-bill
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/spain-parliament-backs-means-consent-bill-84999944

Image Credit: La Moncloa Flickr