The cry of women against femicide in Latin America 1:40
(CNN Spanish) --
In its last legislative session for the 2018-2022 period, the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica approved this Thursday a law that provides comprehensive support to the families of victims of femicide.
The initiative will allow children, people with first degree of consanguinity and dependents of women victims of femicide, to benefit from an economic fund for comprehensive reparation.
This Sunday the new legislature takes over, a week before the new government of Rodrigo Chaves, winner of the second round of elections on April 3, takes office.
The project also contemplates free and priority accompaniment in medical, psychological and psychiatric assistance, study scholarships, housing, advice and legal representation in the processes related to the case of femicide.
According to the press office of the Legislative Assembly, the initiative corresponds to file No. 22872, which is called the Comprehensive Reparation Law for survivors of femicide.
It was approved with 39 votes in favor, 0 against and 18 absent legislators.
For the president of the National Institute for Women and Minister for the Status of Women, Marcela Guerrero, with the approval, Costa Rica recognizes that a femicide is a responsibility that the State must assume as a whole.
“Create a comprehensive reparation fund or regime for family members who, as a result of femicide, lost their mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, aunt, with these family members having to go through a psychological, social and economic process for which they were not prepared, it is a very important advance in favor of the surviving families of femicide”, said the hierarch.
advertising
According to data cited by this institution, since 2007, more than 517 children, 380 of them minors, have lost their mothers as a result of femicide.
Guerrero added that it is a comprehensive response that seeks to enable the victims of these crimes to build a new life project, with economic and psychological support and with spaces for training and continuing education.
The Observatory of Gender Violence against Women and Access to Justice of Costa Rica reports that, on average, two femicides occur per month in the country and 132 requests for protection measures are submitted per day.
These measures can be ordered by a Court of Domestic, Misdemeanor or Family Violence against the person accused of assault to avoid domestic violence.
The Observatory also details that from 2007, the year in which the Law on the Penalization of Violence against Women (LPVcM) was enacted, as of December 31, 2019, there were a total of 355 femicides in Costa Rica.
In 2020, there were 28 femicides and in 2021, of a total of 65 violent deaths of women, 15 femicides and 14 homicides were recorded.
On its website, the observatory adds that the remaining 35 deaths are pending classification, pending police and expert reports or review.
For the law to enter into force, the Costa Rican president must sign it and subsequently publish it in the official newspaper La Gaceta.
In response to a CNN query, the Press Office of President Carlos Alvarado said that they are waiting for the document to arrive at the Presidential House, since it was barely approved this Thursday, and it is still receiving the signature.
femicide