Overview

• The Council of Ministers is expected to sign off on an anteproyecto that legally defines ‘vicario’ violence, creates a specific offense in the Penal Code, and recognizes affected individuals as victims of gender-based violence.
• The draft incorporates family-law measures from the State Pact, including suspending visitation and barring joint custody when a child has lived with, witnessed, or suffered violence.
• The text reinforces children’s rights by ensuring minors are heard in judicial or administrative decisions that affect their lives.
• A Penal Code reform would allow an accessory penalty barring convicted perpetrators from contacting media that disseminate accounts or details that could further harm victims.
• The initiative also targets the use of the discredited ‘parental alienation syndrome’ in custody disputes and will proceed to consultative reports before parliamentary debate, following record child deaths in 2024 and a recent ruling in Las Palmas that classified killing a partner’s dog as vicario violence.