Legislators in Mexico and Chile propose new laws to combat femicide

Legislators in Mexico and Chile are advancing new legal frameworks aimed at preventing and addressing femicide and gender-based violence.

In Mexico, Senator Cristina Ruiz Sandoval has proposed a General Femicide Law. Supported by Senator Carolina Viggiano Austria of the PRI, the initiative seeks to establish a National System for the prevention and care of femicide. The proposal includes 130 articles focused on protection, investigation, and comprehensive reparation. Viggiano emphasized that effective legislation must move beyond punishment to include prevention, specific protocols, and dedicated budgets, noting that implementation by the judiciary remains a critical challenge.

In Chile, a bipartisan group of parliamentarians, led by Senator Karol Cariola and Senate President Paulina Núñez, introduced the ‘Ley Camila’ (Camila Law). The project was presented alongside the family of Camila Ponce, whose death prompted the initiative. The law aims to mandate that authorities investigate gender violence hypotheses from the earliest hours of an incident, connect prior history, and activate early warning systems for high-risk cases to prevent institutional failures in detecting patterns of violence.