Considerations of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano in view of the court resolution applying mitigation of sentences and exoneration of responsibility in crimes of sexual aggression against minors for "cultural" reasons [editar]
31/05/2024
Fundación Secretariado Gitano
In the last few days, a series of court resolutions have come to light in Spain in which sentences have been reduced, or even exempted from responsibility, in cases of sexual aggression against Roma girls. In a very short space of time, two court rulings have acquitted or reduced the sentences of adult men who have committed sexual crimes against minors (12 years old), citing the "Roma culture" to which the accused and the victims belonged as the basis for these decisions.
In view of these resolutions, and as our Director General, Sara Giménez, has stated in her declarations to various media, Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) wishes to make the following points:
- It is categorically untrue that Roma culture protects this type of sexual aggression against minors.
- The association between the normalisation of this type of crime and the Roma people is based on a series of anti-Roma stereotypes and prejudices, which are particularly reprehensible when used by the courts. We place ourselves at the disposal of the judiciary and all legal operators, including the Prosecutor General's Office -which has already announced that it will act to prevent the repetition of this type of sentences, which we applaud- to train all these professionals in anti-discrimination law, in guidelines to avoid judicial stereotypes and child protection standards.
- These stereotypes and prejudices have, in this case, the effect of leaving Roma women and girls unprotected, which constitutes intersectional discrimination based on gender and age, and contravenes international and European human rights standards applicable in the fight against violence against women. Roma women and girls should have access to the same protection as any other girl or woman.
- In this regard, as established by both the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Supreme Court itself, it is totally inappropriate to use cultural considerations, and even less so when these considerations are based on false stereotypes, in matters affecting the protection of the human rights of women and girls. We are certainly surprised that, despite the existence of this jurisprudence and these human rights standards, the Spanish High Court of Justice has issued a statement defending all these rulings.
- In these cases, a children's rights perspective should always be applied, giving priority to the best interests of Roma girls, and therefore applying all the mechanisms available in the Spanish legal system to protect them from situations of sexual violence, at all levels. We believe it is essential that all public resources competent in child protection (health, legal, social, etc.) act rigorously when we are faced with violations of the rights of Roma girls.
- We also call on the media to apply journalistic rigour in their treatment of these cases, avoiding the generalisation of exceptional cases that correspond to contexts of high exclusion and the reproduction of false stereotypes and prejudices about the Roma people, and placing the focus on the protection of children's rights.
- We hope that all the social alarm generated by these court resolutions will serve to generate a series of social, judicial, administrative and political changes that will provide protection, without discrimination, of the rights of Roma women and girls.
Links to some statements made by our Director General, Sara Giménez, to the media (in Spanish):
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