Argentina's Senate Thursday approved a bill that seeks to incorporate into the Penal Code sexual harassment in public spaces.
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The bill, which was approved with 67 votes in favor and one negative vote, proposes fines and imprisonment to fight and prevent sexual harassment.
Fines of up to US$216 will be imposed on anyone who disturbs another person's dignity and physical, psychological, or sexual integrity through actions such as gestures or words with sexual connotations, or non-consensual contact.
These offenses will be aggravated if the victim is a minor or the perpetrator is a public official or a member of a security force.
"This initiative boosts women and sexual diversities' rights... We must achieve that the street is no longer a hostile environment for women," the bill promoter lawmaker Norma Durango said.
Senator Ernesto Martinez was the only lawmaker opposing the project under technical objections grounds as it would become a penal law. Lower Chamber must now debate it.
"I think we are talking about a scale of violence. The most invisible step of all is perhaps the one we are dealing with", Lawmaker Elias de Perez noted.