Puerto Vallarta Proposes New Measures to Fight Sexual Harassment El Vallartense
go to original October 19, 2022

Meet the Hijas de Violencia (the Daughters of Violence), a Mexico City collective that fights street harassment with confetti guns and punk rock. (AJ+)

In a session of the Justice and Human Rights Commission, a proposal for a municipal ordinance initiative was presented last Friday so that the Police and Good Government Regulations clearly establish sexual street harassment as an administrative offense, since currently the regulations do not contain the concept in a precise manner, which does not contribute to the visibility of this conduct that affects a great number of women, nor to its prevention and sanctioning.

The municipal president, Professor Luis Alberto Michel Rodríguez, participated in the analysis of this proposal presented by the president of the commission, Councilwoman Claudia Alejandra Íñiguez Rivera, who explained that it consists of the modification of Section XIII of Article 26 of the Puerto Vallarta Police and Good Government Regulations, so that this offense is stipulated as such, as well as Section IV of Article 37, regarding the penalties for the same.

The mayor pointed out that the current regulation only refers to lewd verbal and corporal acts and conducts in public and/or private spaces of public access, which affect or disturb the right to integrity of persons, but does not refer to them as street sexual harassment, for which reason "it is necessary to name things by their name so that we can look for a solution all together" and that these actions may be sanctioned accordingly, proposing economic sanctions or arrest for 36 hours, as well as awareness workshops for those who commit them.

For this reason, in order to give a clear explanation of what street sexual harassment implies, the places where this situation can occur are also established, so that when a woman feels aggrieved by this fact, the offense can be stipulated by name and not lend itself to interpretation.

Iñiguez Rivera indicated that with the proposals of the councilmen, such as the training of police officers and municipal judges for the better application of the regulation, the proposal will be enriched in order to present it as an initiative of the commission before the full city council.

Furthermore, with this work, we are complying with the request made by the Secretary of Substantive Equality for Women and Men, and with the work tables on the Gender Violence Alert against Women.

Maricela Joya Camacho, head of the Municipal Women's Institute, was present at this session and highlighted the importance of this modification to the municipal regulations for the implementation of the program 'Barrios de Paz' (Neighborhoods of Peace), in its aspect Nos Movemos Seguras (We Move Safely), of which Puerto Vallarta is a beneficiary.

All the participants in this work meeting, which also included representatives from the Municipal Judges area and from the Nos Movemos Seguras (Let's Move Safely) area, agreed that sexual street harassment is not a behavior that should be normalized and should be prevented so that women can live a life free of violence and feel safe, hence the importance of generating the necessary changes for this purpose.

See the original at El Vallartense

Related: Street Harassment Is a Public Health Problem: The Case of Mexico City (The Conversation)

This article was translated from Spanish using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.

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