No means no

TWO men were jailed for 12 years each and ordered to pay 60,000 euros in compensation to a young woman they were found guilty of raping recently, just one of the many cases as the authorities warn that sexual aggression is on the up in Almeria.

In fact, according to reports from the Ministry of the Interior, the security forces receive a report of a case of sexual violence, abuse, prostitution, corruption of minors or child pornography, every two days.

Last year, the Ministry registered 177 crimes against sexual freedom in Almeria Province alone, a 16 per cent increase on figures for 2014.

The Andalucian Public Prosecutor’s Department has expressed its concern over the number of cases detected, “In Almeria, in a similar way to crimes against life or wellbeing, there are a very high number of procedures related to crimes against sexual freedom,” it states in its 2016 annual report.

All types of sexual crime are registered, the department has revealed, including sexual abuse and aggression towards victims of all ages, corruption of minors, prostitution, exhibitionism, and sexual exploitation.

“We are concerned about the statistics, especially the high amount of cases which often affect vulnerable groups,” the prosecutor’s office head said.

The only good news is that there are many government and charity run systems to help victims of sexual attacks, and the police are getting ever better at tracking down the attackers. 

The Ministry of the Interior reported that the number of cases in which a culprit had been identified last year was 122.