Spain
Practice Relating to Rule 93. Rape and Other Forms of Sexual Violence
Spain’s LOAC Manual (1996) stipulates: “Women are subject to special respect and shall be protected in particular against all forms of indecent assault.”
The manual prohibits “attacks on personal dignity, especially degrading and humiliating treatment, enforced prostitution and any form of indecent assault”.
Spain’s LOAC Manual (2007) states:
[N]o person who is captured or detained in relation to an armed conflict remains unprotected under the law of armed conflict and is entitled, at all times, to minimum guarantees. [These include] … prohibition of the following acts at any time and in any place, whether committed by civilian or military agents:
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c. outrages upon personal dignity, in particular … enforced prostitution and any form of indecent assault.
The manual also states that women “are the object of special respect and are protected, in particular, against any form of indecent assault”.
Spain’s Military Criminal Code (1985) provides for the punishment of military personnel who commit rape of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, prisoners of war or the civilian population.
Under Spain’s Penal Code (1995), in time of armed conflict, acts of induced or forced prostitution or any type of attempt against the honour of protected persons are criminal offences.
Spain’s Penal Code (1995), as amended in 2010, states:
Any person who [commits any of the following acts] during armed conflict is punished with 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment, without prejudice to a penalty for the results of such acts:
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9. Outrage against the sexual freedom of a protected person through acts of rape, sexual slavery, enforced or induced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization or any other form of sexual violence.
Spain’s Royal Ordinances for the Armed Forces (2009) states that members of the armed forces “[m]ust protect defenceless or disadvantaged persons, in particular women and children, against rape, forced prostitution … or any other form of sexual exploitation or violence.”