El delito de matrimonio forzado (art. 172 bis CP) y sus relaciones concursales con otros tipos delictivos

Abstract

El delito de matrimonio forzado (art. 172 bis CP), introducido entre los tipos de coacciones por la última gran reforma del Código Penal a través de LO 1/2015, responde tanto a los compromisos adquiridos por España mediante diversos instrumentos legislativos internacionales, como a una cierta necesidad político-criminal a partir de la creciente multiculturalidad de la sociedad española. En efecto, la práctica del matrimonio acordado forma parte de un sistema de relaciones sociales y económicas ampliamente extendido y desde luego aceptado por las comunidades y gentes de numerosos países africanos y asiáticos, pese a que, cuando es forzado y/o precoz, implica una violación de los Derechos Humanos y un modo de violencia y discriminación contra las mujeres y las niñas, en especial. En este contexto, la incriminación expresa en el CP español de tal modalidad de coacciones, aunque ha suscitado diversas críticas en la doctrina y la magistratura y plantea varias dificultades en su interpretación, ha de ser en conjunto valorada positivamente como una vía más para proseguir en la lucha, tanto simbólica como material, contra la violencia de género y las distintas formas de ataque a la dignidad de las personas.

The offence of forced marriage has been brought recently into the Spanish Penal Code by the latest wide reform of it in 2015 (through the Ley Orgánica No. 1/2015). With this new kind of coercion offence, the Spanish Government has accomplished the international obligation that were acquired through several international conventions and directives. It was perhaps also necessary to create it in the face of the increasingly multiculturalism of the Spanish society and population, as a result of the immigration boom since the last years. Indeed, this practice of forced marriage belongs to a widespread system of social and economical relationships that many communities and people from many countries in Africa and Asia approve and share. However, every time when somebody is forced to marry another one or to get married before becoming and adult (child marriage) and without his/her consent, a violation of the Human Rights happens and, frequently, also an act of discrimination and violence against women and girls. From this point of view, the new incrimination of forced marriage in Spanish Penal Code should be seen as a positive step, despite the several critics that it have received from the Academia and some representative of the judiciary. This new regulation may contribute to the ongoing fight, symbolic and real, against gender violence and every form of attack on the human dignity.