Olimpia Law and legislation against digital violence in Latin America

Digital violence or cyberviolence is the exercise of exposing and disseminating images, audio or videos of intimate and sexual content of a person without their consent. Cyber violence threatens the integrity, dignity and private life of the victim. This form of violence is exercised through technological resources and social networks, since the latter make it easier for aggressors to be able to commit it by being able to use it anonymously, with false profiles and unreal data. As a consequence, a barrier to secure access to digital communication is created and the human rights of the victims are violated.

Women and girls are the ones who mainly suffer from cyber violence. The World Health Organization (WHO) conducted an investigation where it is estimated that 1 in 10 women from the age of 15 have already been exposed to some form of digital violence. The magnitude of the situation makes it a problem on the state and international agenda, however, it is a very difficult issue to combat due to the lack of information regarding digital violence and the lack of public policies that contain it and that protect the victims.

In Latin America there is a great lack of legislation to prevent and eradicate cyberviolence and cyberbullying against women and girls, according to reports by UN Women and the Organization of American States (OAS). However, there are small advances in some Latin American countries thanks to activists, survivors, and feminist and civil organizations, since they have forced States to pay attention both to the adoption of new laws and to the construction of jurisprudence on the matter.

On the other hand, according to the report "Cyberviolence and Cyberharassment against women and girls in the framework of the Belém Do Pará Convention" by the OAS and UN Women, there is a lack of harmonization in the different laws and regulations adopted in the region. , use disparate terminology of digital gender violence and the ways in which it is exercised, and many lack an adequate legislative technique that ensures the incorporation of clear terms and do not comply with the principles of exhaustiveness, gradualness and proportionality.

Examples of legislation from three countries in the Latin American region are illustrated below.

Olimpia Law (Mexico)

Mexico is one of the Latin American countries that has the most changes in its legal framework regarding digital violence, since since 2014 the Mexican activist Olimpia Corral Melo began her fight to promote reforms in the penal codes against sexual intimacy after being a victim of the dissemination of an intimate video of her without her prior consent.

Despite this, it was not until 2020 that he managed to approve a set of reforms to the General Law on Women's Access to a Life Free of Violence and the Federal Penal Code, which seek to recognize digital violence and punish crimes that violate the sexual intimacy of people through digital media, also known as cyberviolence. This set of reforms is known as the “Olympia Law” in honor of Olimpia who fought for so many years to obtain justice for her and all the others.

The sanctions contemplated by the Olimpia Law are three to six years in prison for those who commit the crime and fines of 500 to 1,000 Measurement and Update Units (UMA).

Argentina

In the month of July of this year in Argentina, the “Olympia Law” and “Belén Law” projects were presented to the National Congress. Both projects are aimed at punishing the non-consensual dissemination of intimate and sexual material through social networks. They were presented by the deputy Mónica Macha along with Olimpia Coral Melo, a Mexican activist; Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity of the Nation; the space for victims of digital violence "Ley Olimpia Argentina", and the organization "Gender and ICT".

The Olimpia law is the one mentioned above that was born in Mexico thanks to the activist Olimpia Coral Melo. In the Argentine country, the adoption of this implies incorporating digital violence into the law on gender-based violence.

Now, the Belén Law is a project born in Argentina that seeks to classify digital violence as a crime to generate instances of prevention, investigation and sanction. The project is named after Belén San Román, an Argentine woman who in 2020 was the victim of a femicide suicide after, at the end of the relationship with her ex-partner, he spread intimate images of Belén without her consent. However, by the Argentine congress there is still no resolution on the integration of the projects into the law.

Adding to this, at the national level there is only legislation on digital violence against girls, boys and adolescents (NNA). Specifically, Law No. 26,904 in art. 131 of the Penal Code, also known as the Grooming Law, which penalizes from 6 months to 4 years anyone who by any technological means contacts a minor with the intention of committing a crime against their sexual integrity. . At the local level, the Contravention Code of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires already incorporates as a crime the unauthorized dissemination of intimate images or recordings for adults, digital harassment and harassment, sexual harassment and digital impersonation.

Brazil

In Brazil, the criminal law does not penalize the non-consensual dissemination of content of an intimate or sexual nature, it is only limited to penalizing the actions of reproduction, photography, filming or recording by any means of nudity content or sexual acts without the authorization of the participants. .

However, the Brazilian country has an important regulatory framework in the field of digital rights, since there are several laws that can be applied in matters of digital gender violence. For example, in 2018 two were created: Law No. 13,718 that typifies the crimes of sexual importunity and disclosure of rape images and Law No. 13,642 that attributes to the Federal Police the responsibility of investigating digital crimes against women. women, including the digital dissemination of content that propagates hatred or aversion against them.

They also have the "Internet Civil Framework", which is an innovative initiative not only in the region, but in the world as it is the first Declaration of Internet Rights. Establishes a subsidiary liability system for Internet service providers. Article 21 of this law establishes that Internet provider companies have the obligation to remove intimate content in a reasonable time with the simple notification of the victim or their legal representative and without the need for a court order to remove the content.

In practice

At the moment, there are few crimes of digital violence that have been resolved by courts in the region. The main reasons are due to the lack of jurisprudence, poor complaint mechanisms, insufficient specialized legal frameworks and the lack of technical knowledge of the investigating authorities to prove the violence carried out through digital technologies. Likewise, victims of cyberviolence refrain from testifying through re-victimization, due to shame and mistrust in judicial authorities, which harms the justice process for them and obstructs the creation of public policies on the subject.

In short, violence against women persists and evolves with the times, and now the digital media are the tool to carry it out. It is the responsibility of States to ensure the safety of their inhabitants, so it is urgent that jurisprudence is also updated in order to protect any victim who suffers any form of digital violence. The update in Latin America has been slow, until 5 years ago the first Codes in the region were modified; and partial, because few Latin American countries have added cyberviolence to their jurisprudence. However, examples such as Brazil with the "Internet Civil Framework" show that the region has the potential to be a pioneer in the matter. However, States must commit to ensuring that the digital space is safe for everyone who uses digital media, taking into account that the safe use of the Internet and technologies is part of our rights.

In the same way, both digital platforms and social networks are responsible for improving their security system, since they do not have the necessary security means to guarantee that all users enjoy a cyberspace free of violence and prevent it from spreading. keep promoting. Finally, victims who suffer or have suffered from cyberviolence should not be blamed or revictimized, as this causes the stigma on the subject to continue and prevents people from reporting cases to the authorities, hindering the creation of new legislation in the region. .