The Defensor del Pueblo has welcomed a Supreme Court ruling restricting parental visitation by gender violence offenders.
In November 2014, the institution recommended that an effort be made to abolish visits and communications with their children to gender violence offenders, in order to avoid risks.
In its opinion, the best interests of the under-age child and his/her right to be listened to must prevail in all decisions that tighten protection of the under-age children of victims of gender violence.
The Defensor recommended amending section 66 of the Gender-Related Violence Act (artículo 66 de la Ley de Violencia de Género), a proposal that was accepted in July 2015 in the law amending the protection system for children and adolescents.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court applies this reform and lays down “as case-law doctrine, that the judge or court may suspend the schedule of visits by the under-age child with the parent convicted of a gender violence offence against their spouse or partner and/or [convicted] of abusing the under-age child or another of the parent’s children, assessing the risk factors that exist”.
This argument coincides with the view held by the Office of the Defensor, which has recommended that an individualised examination of the visitation arrangement for each under-age child affected by gender-related violence in the home environment be guaranteed.
