Piñera announces bill to punish cyberbullying in Chile

“Ley Ciber Acoso”

SANTIAGO – Chilean President Sebastián Piñera led a ceremony commemorating International Women’s Day in which he announced a series of proposals, including a bill that punishes cyberbullying.

The initiative, “Ley Ciber Acoso” seeks to punish all forms of harassment through electronic means.

“I have signed a bill to detect and severely punish those who abuse women by disseminating confidential information or photographs that are private, we are committed to generating a zero-tolerance behavior against all types of harassment or violence against women,” said Piñera in the speech.

The president related the project to the case “Nido.org”, which was an Internet forum that generated great controversy earlier this month when it was discovered that it was used by some Internet users to share photos and private information about women and girls.

“With the Nido.org case, we discovered that the practice of divulging intimate photos of women is unpunished, which becomes a blackmail for them,” said Piñera, who recalled the 10+1 victims of femicide so far this year and made a review of the pro-woman agenda encouraged by his government.

In addition, he announced that his government will submit a bill to Congress to reform the health forecasting system as it understands that the one that is “currently punishes women more.”

Piñera also made announcements such as the creation of a Monitoring Unit for Precautionary Measures and Protection Measures, to guarantee the protection of victims of violence who denounce their aggressors, the creation of the Gender Equality Report at Work, as an instrument to make visible and transparent the working conditions of women and the creation of a Public Registry of Women for Directories.