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The number of feminicides in Mexico has increased in recent years 5:56
(CNN Spanish) - With a devastating vote of 415 votes in favor and only one against, the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico approved increasing penalties for femicide and sexual abuse of minors.
The proposal, which must now be approved by the full Senate, establishes an increase in penalties for feminicide from 45 to 60 years in prison and an increase in fines from 1,000 to 1,500 days fine; as well as imposing up to 18 years in prison on those who sexually abuse minors (the penalty is currently 10 years).
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The debate takes place in the midst of a serious crisis over the violent deaths of women and girls in Mexico. According to data from the National Public Security System, cited by the deputy of the Social Encounter, Esmeralda de los Ángeles Moreno Medina, during the last five years feminicide increased by 137.5% throughout the country.
They are killing us and something has to be done now, until the "they killed us" cease to be heard in the wake, said the dip. @Laura_Rojas_, who demanded the return of a specialized Prosecutor's Office for the attention to crimes against women. pic.twitter.com/4XQ4HYeiAY
- Chamber of Deputies (@Mx_Diputados) February 18, 2020
In the same period of time, warnings for gender-based violence - a mechanism for the protection of women's human rights - have been declared in 13 entities in the country and until mid-January 2020 there were nine procedures pending, according to the National Institute of women.
Feminicides: what can be done? 1:47If the penalty increase is approved, Mexico would have one of the most severe laws against femicides in the region, along with Argentina, where femicides are punishable by even life imprisonment. In some states of Mexico, life imprisonment is contemplated as punishment for feminicides.
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In recent days, the country has been shaken by at least two violent crimes against women: one of them is that of Fatima, a 7-year-old girl who disappeared on February 11 after leaving school, and her body was found days Then in a plastic bag.
The crime of Fatima comes after the protests in Mexico against the murder of Ingrid Escamilla took the streets of the capital.
Escamilla, a 25-year-old girl, was brutally murdered and allegedly skinned by her partner.