Legislators are engaged in the discussion to determine if street sexual harassment should be classified as a crime or as a contravention.
A majority of the women’s commission’s legislators during the period 2018-2019 are inclined towards contravention. This was established by a recent substitute text, which states that the victim must submit the name and address of the perpetrator. However, other legislators believe that there are some behaviors that should be classified as a crime.
This division of criteria led to the legislative forum to end its first year of work without the opinion on bill 20,299, which President Carlos Alvarado asked to be approved during this new legislative year.
The official Nielsen Pérez and the front-runner José María Villalta are married to the idea that situations such as cornering or recording videos under the skirt of a woman, should be classified as crimes.
Franggi Nicolás, from the National Liberation Party (PLN), who was the president of the forum in the 2018-2019 period, supported the substitute text where everything is classified as a contravention, although she admits the possibility that some are punishable crimes.