International Women’s Day and the Government has met in an extraordinary Council of Ministers, chaired by the vice-president María Jesús Montero (in the absence of Pedro Sánchez due to an official trip), to approve a battery of measures that helps advance rights of women and in the protection of victims of gender violence. Among them, the approval (in first reading) of the trafficking law, which will not only focus on sexual exploitation, but also labor exploitation and organ trafficking; and a new instruction from the Ministry of the Interior that restricts the criteria for inactivating cases in Viogen, the comprehensive monitoring system in cases of gender violence by the State Security Forces.
In relation to the comprehensive law against Trafficking and Exploitation of Human Beings, which is recovered from the previous legislature, the text ends the normative dispersion, follows the recommendations that have been approved at the international level and jointly addresses the fight against all forms of trafficking in human beings and against all forms of exploitation that constitute the purpose of trafficking, criminalizing forced labor, servitude, slavery and all forms of exploitation.
As explained by the Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, in the press conference after the Council of Ministers, it is not a “punitivist” law, but rather it is focused on prevention, awareness and protection of victims “to support and” provide coverage to survivors, “especially” those who are in an irregular situation. Now, it must collect the reports from the advisory bodies and go through the public hearing process, before its final approval by the Council of Ministers.
The norm contemplates a “provisional authorization with residence and work permits while the definitive status of victim of trafficking is certified”, something “very important”, Redondo has assessed, for these victims who live with “fear and anguish” and to whom must be “protected and accompanied at all times”
It also guarantees that victims who are “in a situation of trafficking” will not be expelled from the country and are offered “a whole battery of aid and rights” without the need to report: access to the minimum vital income, consideration of a priority group to qualify for public housing, legal assistance and compensation from assets confiscated from mafias and trafficking groups.
Access to rights regardless of whether a complaint is filed and the participation of victims in the criminal investigation. Access will be immediate and will subsequently be subject to the agents actually verifying the status of a trafficking victim.
On the other hand, the text emphasizes the role of demand and the importance of dismantling the business model to break the chain of trafficking, the third most lucrative, after arms and drug trafficking according to international organizations.
Another of the measures adopted is the approval of a Royal Decree that regulates the granting of financial aid to low-income victims of sexual violence.
For his part, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlaska, has presented the latest instruction regarding the protection of victims of gender violence. This updates the criteria and procedures for the inactivation of cases from the Viogén system. Depending on the risk, the mechanism may remain active even up to a year after the aggressor has completed his sentence.
To order the inactivation of a case, the agents will have to physically meet with the victim and verify that no new threats have been made by the abuser. And a new modality, “supervised inactivation”, is created for cases of complex discharge, including the presence of minors.
The Government has also approved, at the proposal of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, a change in the treatment of situations of temporary disability in cases of gender violence, so that these are not considered a common contingency, but rather, For economic purposes, they are considered a professional contingency. This gives greater economic and social protection to victims.
