The Justice of El Salvador resolves that it is not a crime to touch a girl's genitals

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A magistrate from El Salvador has been released from prison after a court ruled that it is not a crime to touch a girl's genitals , but a fault punishable solely by a fine. According to the Prosecutor's investigation, on February 18, the magistrate of the Third Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice Jaime Escalante took from the shoulders a 10-year-old girl who played in the residential Altavista II of the municipality of Tonacatepeque, north of San Salvador, and "the vulva touched". He then ran away while the mother of the child chased him to his vehicle, which is owned by the Court.

The Prosecutor's Office accuses him of a crime of sexual assault on a minor or incapable person, contemplated in article 161 of the Criminal Code of El Salvador, which contemplates a penalty of between eight to twelve years in prison. However, last Thursday, the First Criminal Chamber of San Salvador decided that the magistrate's touching the girl does not constitute such a crime, but only a fault called "acts contrary to good customs and public decorum" , regulated in Article 392 of the Criminal Code. This only entails a fine of 10 to 30 days for "impunity touching" in agglomerations or in public places. The defense's argument was that "touching does not jeopardize the intimacy or sexual freedom of the person . " The Criminal Chamber declared itself incompetent to give justice in this case, which was transferred to a Tonacatepeque Peace Court.

Thus, from now on, the Prosecutor's Office must present a new accusation in the Justice of the Peace for an alleged offense against Judge Escalante, who lost his immunity on March 4 due to these events, as decided by the Legislative Assembly. Like politicians, judges in El Salvador have a constitutional jurisdiction that prevents them from being tried.

However, the Prosecutor of the Central American country has already announced that it will appeal the "unexpected" resolution of the Criminal Chamber, which in a first hearing held last March, had already reduced the magistrate's crime against the girl. Specifically, the magistrates considered that he should be accused not of sexual assault in a minor and aggravated incapacity, but of sexual assault in a minor, considering that the magistrate had not committed the crime against the girl in his position as an official.

"WE SAVE OUR GIRLS"

The last judicial decision has been the drop that has filled the glass in El Salvador, where a wave of indignation has been generated that, for the moment, has been transferred to social networks. A campaign in Charge.Org has already collected more than 12,000 signatures to ask the Prosecutor's Office to appeal the resolution , so that the magistrate "faces Justice for abusing a minor." "Let's save our girls. Our country cannot minimize these disgusting acts," says the petition. Under the # TocarNiñasSíEsDelito and # LasNiñasNoSeTocan thousands of people are against the resolution, which has caused even the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, to join this campaign.

Bukele has announced that "three days of communiqués, postures and protests for the resolution of the case of Judge Escalante" and has published in his social networks the first one, in which he asks the Supreme Court of Justice for the investigation of the proceedings by the judicial officers of the First Criminal Chamber. " It also announces that the Government "will analyze the possibility of presenting the corresponding initiatives of law , in order to improve the framework for the protection of children and adolescents."

The president acknowledges that since he learned about the "possible situation of serious impunity of the aggressions committed against a 10-year-old girl, it has been a deep concern", so he guarantees that from the Executive, through the competent agencies, "All necessary measures will be taken so that the case does not remain impunity."

At the same time, it has announced that it will request the pronouncement of International Organizations in the field of Human Rights , especially those organizations for the protection of children and adolescents, such as the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, as well as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights , in order to make recommendations "for measures to be taken in order to improve our legal and institutional system of child protection."

For their part, the international organizations that form the alliance 'Joining forces to end violence against children', among which is Save The Children and Children's Villages, have shown their "total rejection" of the judicial resolution of the Criminal Chamber, since 30 years after the commemoration of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, "represents a setback for the country."

These entities, among others, require the Chamber to "analyze and resolve legally by applying international and national regulations relating to the rights of children and adolescents, to avoid full contradiction to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that" girls, boys and adolescents have the right to have their personal integrity respected, which includes physical, psychological, cultural, moral, emotional and sexual integrity. "

Several organizations in defense of women's rights have called a demonstration next Monday in San Salvador under the slogan 'Girls do not touch, nor are they violated'. "Let's get out of the networks and go to the street," says the call in which the photo of the accused magistrate who is labeled as a "rapist" appears.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Sexual abuse
• Childhood

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