Montero in the face of group attacks on minors: "What happens is that there is an increase in visibility and denunciation"

The Minister of Equality assures that now "there is more trust in the institutions" to denounce

MADRID, 12 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister for Equality, Irene Montero, has linked the increase in cases of sexual assault by minors, such as the one that occurred over the weekend in Logroño, with "an increase in the number of complaints and the visibility of cases."

"Until now there was also a very high prevalence rate, but it was not reported and they remained invisible because it was embarrassing or afraid to report it or because it was more difficult to identify it for what it was, because it was normalized," said the head of Equality in an interview with RNE collected by Europa Press.

For Montero, "what is happening now is that there is an increase in the visibility and denunciation of violence because there is more trust in the institutions." According to her, "in recent years, these cases remained much more invisible and there was a very high rate of underreporting of crimes against sexual freedom." Currently, as he added, "a phenomenon is taking place that has to do with making these attacks visible."

He has acknowledged, however, the existence of "a big problem as a society" in reference to the studies that show that "the age of access to pornography is eight years." For this reason, it has emphasized the need for "compulsory sexual education at all educational stages, from childhood, because it is a right of children to receive sexual education, to know their own body and to talk about consent from the beginning ".

In this sense, he has alluded "to known cases in recent weeks of girls and boys who, by receiving sexual education courses, are able to identify this violence and, therefore, ask for help from their adult role models who give them security, that can accompany them in the restoration of the damage caused and in the access to their rights".

For this reason, he believes that the solution involves "educating, educating and educating" so that minors can "identify violence, not reproduce it and to know how to ask for help." He considers, however, that measures must be taken and has specifically alluded to those provided for in the Law of only yes is yes to guarantee "that there is a reproach against the aggressors who are minors", although he has reiterated that the solution for "education, prevention and awareness in all areas of society".

Regarding the possibility of regulating pornography to prevent access at a very early age, Montero has doubted its effectiveness. In his opinion, "the prohibitionist logic is going to be difficult to recover" and he has admitted that "prohibiting is not going to prevent boys and girls access that content that exists on the networks and that can be reached very easily".