Spain is arming itself with a law to prevent violence against children.

Coming into force on Friday, a new reform of the Spanish Civil Code now allows the courts to withdraw visitation rights or to refuse them to parents when "criminal proceedings" have been "initiated" against them.

Thus, parents who do not have custody of their children will not be able to see them if they are prosecuted for having killed or attempted to kill, assaulted or abused their partner or their children or when there are "well-founded clues". domestic or gender violence ”.

In certain cases, a judge may however authorize visits or contacts "always taking into account the best interests of the child (...) and by first assessing the situation of the relationship" between the parent and the child. .

Double infanticide upsets Spain

This reform, which entered into force on Friday, was published in the official bulletin at the beginning of June, a few days before a double infanticide that upset Spain.

Two little girls, six and one, were reported missing on April 27 after leaving with their father.

The body of one of them was found in June in the open sea, off the Canaries, at the bottom of the ocean, in a bag weighted by a boat anchor.

According to justice, the "most probable" hypothesis is that the father, who did not accept the separation from the mother of his daughters, killed his daughters to "inflict on his former companion the greatest pain he could. to imagine ".

Pioneer in the fight against male chauvinist violence

Spain is a pioneer country in the fight against male chauvinist violence and was notably the first European country to have adopted in 2004 a law making the victim's gender an aggravating circumstance in the event of aggression.

Since 2003, the country has officially recorded feminicides.

1,111 women have been killed by their spouse or ex-spouse since that date, including 33 since the start of 2021, according to official statistics.

Miscellaneous

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