The President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, sanctioned the 15 reforms to a law that intensifies the penalties for crimes of violence against women, approved last March by the Legislative Assembly.
“We signed the reforms to the Law on Criminalization of Violence against Women to protect them in situations of violence, in a separation, divorce, courtship or casual relationship. This reality hurts us and that is why we must fight it more firmly,” Alvarado reported in his Twitter social network account.
The initiatives, approved in the second and final debate on March 17, reforms 15 articles of the aforementioned rule and the to allow ordering preventive detention in dating or casual relationships.
These changes seek to guarantee the rights of women and punish forms of physical, psychological, sexual and patrimonial violence against them, to expand the scope of application and thus protect a greater number of victims of violence.
Work still ahead
The Minister of the Status of Women, Marcela Guerrero, valued this measure, but has already announced that it is promoting a new reform that includes the scenarios not yet typified in femicides, such as sexual assault and harassment, human trafficking, migration, organized crime and criminal networks.
