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MADRID – Thousands of people took to the streets of countries around the world on Sunday, a day reserved by the United Nations to raise awareness of violence against women, to protest against gender – based violence.
This was the beginning of a 16-day campaign urging individuals and organizations to fight the violence that will affect more than a third of the world's women during their lifetime, according to the United Nations. United.
Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a video on Twitter"I support the millions of women around the world who have dared to denounce violence and harassment."
Using the hashtags #MeToo, #NiUnaMenos and #NousAll, she urged women around the world to continue telling their stories of violence and to "demand and obtain redress for the responsibility".
"All of us women and men must come together to end violence against women," she added.
In Madrid, protesters who sought to pressure the new Spanish Socialist government to tackle gender-based violence wrote signs saying "No, it's no" and "Not one less", and chanted: "We are not all here. the murderers have disappeared.
After reaching Puerta del Sol, Madrid's central square, they listened to the names of the victims. The government calculates that 45 women were killed in Spain during the past year by their partner or former partner, but organizers of the event estimate the total at 89, including those killed by people outside their entourage staff.
Courts have recently issued a verdict that women weaken the violence inherent in sexual assault: On Friday, a court in Lleida, in northeastern Spain, whitewashed a man and his nephew from prison. more serious charge of sexual assault, the equivalent of violating in Spain, after attacking a woman encountered in a bar.
In an alley, the men forced her to have sex without her consent, the court said. They were sentenced to four and a half years in prison for sexual assault because they were deemed not to have used intimidation or violence, even though the woman had asked them to stop.
This case follows another case of gang rape this year in which five men were acquitted of the most serious rape charge – which must involve acts of violence or intimidation under Spanish law – after driving a teenager into an alcove, assaulting her and filmed with his mobile phone during the bull festival in San Fermín, Pamplona.
Because the victim stated that she feared for her assault, the judges condemned these men for "sexual assault", calling her attitude "passive or neutral", provoking demonstrations in the streets and a call for the recasting of the Spanish legislation.
Women around the world have started to march against gender-based violence in countries like Chile, Ecuador, France, Greece and Italy even before Sunday. Several world leaders took note of the campaign.
"Gender-based violence hurts us all," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada in a statement. "It affects families, schools and workplaces – and prevents entire communities from reaching their full potential."
Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, put a red mark under his eye on Sunday during a speech at a crucial summit of the European Union on Brexit.
"It's not normal that it's normal," Tajani said of the gender-based violence, pulling out a red pencil and drawing a line on his cheek, a symbol of domestic violence.
Irish laws relating to the fight against rape were also topical when the lawyer of a man accused of rape cited the underwear worn by a woman as a sign of consent, provoking outrage throughout the country.
Last week, Amnesty International also published a study showing that rape laws in Europe were "dangerous and obsolete". Many countries recognized rape only when physical violence, threat or coercion was involved.
Anna Blus, Amnesty International's researcher on women's rights and Western Europe in Amnesty International, said in a statement. "Until governments harmonize their laws with this simple fact, perpetrators of rape will continue to get away with their crimes."
The United Nations has recognized the #MeToo movement for carrying out an awareness campaign on gender-based violence rooted in countries where the issue has struggled to gain importance: as in South Korea, where a politician , Ahn Hee-jung, was charged and acquitted of sexual assault, one of the most important cases in the country #MeToo; and in India, where the movement took off with accusations against Bollywood men and dropped an important minister.
The #MeToo movement is also imposed in China, where a Chinese Buddhist leader has been accused of sexually harassing at least two followers, and in India, a Catholic bishop of Kerala state, located in the south of the country, was arrested in September for allegedly raping a nun. for years.
Last week, the worldwide organization of nuns of the Catholic Church publicly denounced for the first time the "culture of silence and secrecy" surrounding sexual assault in the church and urged the sisters victims of abuse to report crimes to the police and their superiors. The Associated Press.
Raphael Minder brought back from Madrid, and Yonette Joseph and Iliana Magra from London.
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