sexploitation

Article 364.1 of the Cuban Penal Code imposes a prison sentence of four to ten years to those who induce, cooperate, or promote prostitution or sexual commerce, own, manage, operate, or finance establishments where prostitution takes place, or derive benefits from such activities. The penalties increase to eight to twenty years if threats, coercion, abuse of authority are used, or if the victim is under the care of the offender, among other aggravating circumstances.

Law No. 2012-95 amended the definition of sexual harassment in the French Criminal Code and increased the maximum penalties for sexual harassment. The definition of sexual harassment became broader and more precise, encompassing the imposition upon a person, in a repeated manner, of words or behaviors of a sexual nature, which either violate a person’s dignity due to their humiliating or degrading nature or create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive situation.

A 17-year-old girl engaged in sexual acts with an online acquaintance she had met only twice because he threatened to end the relationship if she refused. The Court ruled that threatening to end a relationship can constitute a threat of substantial harm and thus sexual coercion if the relationship has a high emotional value to the victim. Specifically, the Court noted that whether the termination of a relationship constitutes substantial harm depends on the individual perception of the victim, and not on the perception of a reasonable average person.

The defendant, a public servant from a local prosecutor office in Colombia, was charged with a sexual harassment offense and acquitted. It was argued that the defendant met the plaintiff in a public park to discuss the subpoena of a parallel judicial proceeding in which the plaintiff was involved. Instead, he offered her money in exchange for sex. The plaintiff refused. The Supreme Court of Justice upheld the acquittal, finding that the prosecutor incorrectly qualified the defendant’s conduct as sexual harassment.