The PSOE has presented this Thursday a proposal for an abolitionist law of prostitution in Congress that proposes to prosecute all forms of pimping and that establishes economic sanctions for clients who use these sexual services.
The initiative is a forceful response to the confrontation that has occurred in recent hours with United We Can and other parliamentary groups regarding prostitution in the processing of the law of only yes is yes.
This division came to endanger the star law of Irene Montero until finally the PSOE backed down and in extremis withdrew an abolitionist amendment (which was going to go ahead with the PP) that was used by other parties as the reason for not voting. in favor of the law and let it fall.
After that clash, the PSOE rushed to announce the presentation of an abolitionist law, in a staging, with a press conference late in the afternoon, in which their anger with the attitude of United We Can was evident because ” they don’t want to position themselves” in the debate on prostitution.
It was there when the deputy general secretary of the PSOE, Adriana Lastra, challenged the purples to get out of the ambiguity and “decide” what they are going to do with the socialists’ bill. She expressly appealed to the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, to give her support to this initiative.
However, the number two of the PSOE lamented that it is a debate that United We Can “has not resolved internally” and that is why it avoids it. “They don’t want to abolish prostitution because what they want to do is regulate it,” he went on to say. Thus, she contrasted that position with the clear approach that the PSOE has, which was reinforced in October at its 40th Federal Congress. “Unidas Podemos knows that we are an abolitionist party and knows that the government has announced that we are going in this legislature to abolish prostitution,” he stressed.
After being questioned, Irene Montero has shown a favorable opinion this Thursday, once she has highlighted that the PSOE initiative “is going to add to the efforts of the Government, with the president at the head, in that process of abolishing prostitution” .
The law has been registered this Thursday in Congress and the PSOE is going to give it maximum agility so that it can reach the Plenary in two or three weeks so that a first debate can be held for its admission for processing. There they hope to have the support of United We Can. If not, the continuity of the initiative could depend on the position that the PP maintains, since the parliamentary partners of the Government have very critical positions with the total prohibition. Especially ERC and EH Bildu, who are regulationists.
Regarding the content of the proposal, the PSOE advocates the total persecution of pimping with various changes in the Penal Code. One of the main points is the sanction of clients of prostitution with fines ranging from 12 to 24 months. It is an economic punishment that is doubled in the event that the prostitute is a minor, in addition to carrying prison sentences of one to three years.
“In no case will the person who is in a situation of prostitution be sanctioned,” says the article that the PSOE proposes for the Penal Code, to shield that no woman is persecuted.
The reform of the Criminal Code focuses on “profit” and not on “exploitation” as the most effective method to prosecute pimping, after having consulted with legal experts who warned of the low number of convictions that are being given for the difficulty of proving in court that there has been exploitation.
“A prison sentence of one to three years and a fine of 12 to 24 months will be imposed on whoever, for profit, promotes, favors or facilitates the prostitution of another person, even with the consent of the same,” it says. The sentence will be from three to six years when “violence, intimidation or deception” occurs.
On the other hand, the PSOE recovers in its initiative the content of the amendment that it had to withdraw in extremis in the law of the only if it is yes to pursue the locative third party, that is, the transfer of physical spaces (premises, rooms, flats ) to engage in prostitution. It is the same wording that generated the rejection of the others, except for the PP, which agreed.
“Whoever, for profit and on a regular basis, allocates a building, premises or establishment, open to the public or not, or any other space, to promote, favor or facilitate the prostitution of another person, even with their consent, will be punished with a prison sentence of two to four years and a fine of eighteen to twenty-four months, without prejudice to the closure provided for in article 194 of this Code,” it says.
“I have no doubt that some groups will no longer have excuses, they will not be able to say that it is not the law,” Adriana Lastra assured this Thursday at a press conference collected by Servimedia, in response to those who criticized the PSOE for including this matter in the law of only if is yes.
With the new initiative, Lastra has said that now the “debate is quite simple” and is answered with a yes or no on abolition.
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