Ampliación de la querella argentina con perspectiva de géneroinclusión de los crímenes de violencia sexual y en base al género cometidos contra las mujeres y niñas

Abstract

On March 16, 2016, Women's Link Worldwide filed an extension of the criminal complaint filed on April 14, 2010, before the National Criminal Court and Federal Correctional Court No. 1, of Buenos Aires, Argentina (case No. 4,591/10), which asserted its jurisdiction invoking ‘universal jurisdiction’ to try serious rights abuses committed by in Spain during the Franco dictatorship. Women’s Link extension of the complaint sought, firstly, to petition and promote the investigation of the specific violations of rights suffered by women and girls who opposed the Franco regime, or who were imputed a leftist ideology or punished for "consort crimes", i.e., for the only reason of being daughters, sisters, companions or wives of militants or sympathizers of parties or trade unions loyal to the Republic. In addition, it aimed at incorporating the different types of violence used against women and girls (sexual violence and gender-based violence), the differentiated impact and specific impact that these violations of rights and violence had on their lives, as well as their possible qualification as crimes of genocide and / or against humanity, thus introducing a gender perspective to this research. The presentation of the main arguments for the extension of the complaint will highlight the relevance of projecting a gender perspective in transitional justice mechanisms, so that the objectives of truth, justice and reparation also reach women who suffered the Franco repression by the fact of being women. Only in this way will the construction of historical memory be complete.