The Argentine Senate Wednesday unanimously approved the Micaela Law to eradicate gender-based violence. The 59 legislators present in the Senate passed the Micaela Bill.

The bill, named after Micaela Garcia, a femicide victim, calls for mandatory gender sensitivity training for all state officials and workers. This training is much needed because of the lack of awareness public servants exhibit when dealing with cases of gender-based violence.

The law proposed the creation of the Permanent National Program of Institutional Training in Gender and Violence against Women for all public officials.

Article 4 of the law states, "The highest authorities of each agency are responsible for ensuring the implementation of the training, which will begin within one year of the entry into force of this law. To this end, adaptations of materials and/or programs may be carried out, or may be developed, being governed by the regulations, recommendations and other provisions established in this regard by the monitoring bodies of the conventions related to the subject of gender and violence against women."

All state officials have to complete the training every year. Disciplinary actions will be taken against those who miss the training without any just cause.

Senators from the opposition bloc criticized the government for being hypocrites as they have cut down the budget for women by 18 percent.

The key points of the Micaela Law are:



1. Everyone in public service must go through training on “gender and violence against women.”



2. The National Institute of Women (INAM) will enforce the law. It will also be responsible for directly training high ranking officials.



3. The training will be conducted in collaboration with their own gender offices if they have one. New materials and programs will be produced for training.



4. The INAM will control the quality of the said materials and the training must be imparted within a year of the law coming into force.



5. INAM will also publish information regarding the degree of compliance of each state agency and do follow-up reports on its impact.



6. If any public employee refuses to attend the training “without just cause”, they will be subjected to disciplinary sanctions.