Through a new code of ethics, the Ministry of Public Administration (SFP) issued new rules of conduct to combat harassment and sexual harassment of the Federal Public Administration (APF). The dependency included in these guidelines a list of 17 prohibited behaviors for bureaucrats in order to avoid these cases.
In this way, compliments, suggestive hugs, jokes about the sexual life of co-workers, asking about sexual fantasies or preferences or proposing appointments with a sexual nature are expressly prohibited behavior for all public servants of the federal government.
The new code of ethics, which also incorporates rules for the conduct of bureaucrats in their social networks, is already in force and its compliance is mandatory regardless of hierarchical level, in accordance with the General Law of Administrative Responsibilities.
As part of the principle of respect for human rights, one of the fundamental axes of conduct in the public service, bureaucrats must avoid behavior that undermines the dignity of people, acts of discrimination, distinction between men and women that affects access to the same opportunities, and perform or tolerate acts of harassment and sexual harassment.
The sexual harassment is violence of a sexual nature in which there is an abusive exercise of power by the perpetrator and takes place in a relationship of real hierarchical subordination of the victim to the aggressor.
Meanwhile, the sexual harassment It is defined as sexual violence in which there is no hierarchical subordination, it can even be carried out from a person of a lower hierarchical level to someone of higher rank or, from a public servant to an individual.
The latest report on cases of harassment and sexual harassment in the (APF), indicates that in 2020 there were 255 complaints in 57 public entities, 92% of the victims were women. 26% of these complaints were for suggestive physical contact, 13% for expressions of insinuations, invitations, favors or proposals for dates of a sexual nature and another 13% for the open or indirect manifestation of sexual interest in a person.
Although in smaller proportions, during 2020 behaviors were also reported, such as conditioning the obtaining or remaining in a job in exchange for accepting conduct of a sexual nature or making suggestive sexual signals.
The prohibited actions
To combat the harassment and sexual harassment In the government, the SFP included in the new code of ethics the behaviors that public servants must avoid, among which are:
- Making sexually suggestive signals with the hands or through body movements
- Having physical contact that is suggestive or of a sexual nature, such as touching, hugging, kissing, groping, or pulling
- Giving gifts, giving inappropriate or conspicuously different preferences, or overtly or indirectly expressing sexual interest in a person
- Carrying out dominant, aggressive, intimidating or hostile conduct towards a person so that they submit to their sexual desires or interests, or that of another person or persons
- Spy on a person in their privacy, or while they change their clothes or are in the bathroom
- Conditioning the obtaining of a job or promotion, their permanence in it or the conditions of the same in exchange for accepting conduct of a sexual nature
- Forcing them to carry out activities that do not correspond to their work or other disciplinary measures in retaliation for rejecting propositions of a sexual nature
- Condition the provision of a procedure, public service or evaluation in exchange for the user, student or applicant agreeing to engage in sexual conduct of any nature
- Express comments, ridicule, compliments or jokes towards another person regarding appearance or anatomy with a sexual connotation, either in person or through any means of communication
- Make comments, teasing or suggestive jokes regarding your sexual life or that of another person, either in person or through any means of communication
- Expressing insinuations, invitations, favors or proposals to appointments or encounters of a sexual nature
- Emit expressions or use language that denigrates people or intends to place them as a sexual object
- Asking a person about sexual histories, fantasies or preferences or about their sex life
- Display or send through any means of communication, posters, calendars, messages, photographs, audios, videos, illustrations or objects with images or structures of a sexual nature, unwanted or requested by the recipient
- Spreading rumors or any kind of information about a person’s sexual life
- Express insults or humiliations of a sexual nature
- Deliberately showing private parts of the body to one or more people.
Failure to comply with these rules can be reported by any public servant or citizen through the Ethics Committees that each government agency will create, and it will be a preventive body that will hear complaints and issue recommendations, but it can also be reported through the Internal Control Bodies of each public entity. This will be independent of other legal actions.
The latest available public data indicates that in 27% of cases the person denounced is direct hierarchical superior and in 11% it is an indirect hierarchical superior, another 21% of acts of harassment and sexual harassment occur between co-workers without subordination.
Protocol for harassment and sexual harassment
In February 2020, the Protocol for the prevention, care and punishment of sexual harassment and sexual harassmenta tool for the Internal Control Bodies to investigate these cases in the Federal Public Administration.
This guide begins with a declaration of zero tolerance for harassment and sexual harassment by each dependency and contemplates a first contact for the victims to denounce a conduct, this can be through a counselor, the Ethics Committee or the Internal Control Body of the institution.
In this first contact, it should be identified if the victim requires support or intervention of specialists such as medical personnel, psychologist, or any other. It will be presented later the complaint before the Ethics Committee, which will be supported by investigative authorities such as the Internal Control Bodies.
“The investigating authority, in an informal manner, must gather all the evidence to help verify the performance of the conduct, which includes all kinds of elements of conviction, circumstantial evidence, indications and presumptions, provided that consistent conclusions about the facts can be obtained from them, ”is indicated in the protocol.
The earring as a serious fault
However, despite the fact that for now the General Law of Administrative Responsibilities does not contemplate specific sanctions for harassment and sexual harassment in public service and violations of the code of ethics are considered a non-serious administrative offense and are sanctioned with:
- Public or private reprimand
- Suspension of employment, position or commission from one to thirty calendar days
- Dismissal from your job, position or commission
- Temporary disqualification to perform jobs, positions or commissions in the public service and to participate in acquisitions, leases, services or public works.
Since 2020, the Senate has pending the approval of a minute to reform the General Law of Administrative Responsibilities to establish as an obligation of public servants the promotion, respect, protection and guarantee of access of all women to a life free of violence and rate the harassment and sexual harassment as a serious administrative offense.
Public servants who incur in serious administrative faultIn addition to the fact that they can be removed from office for a period of up to ninety days, suspended or disqualified, they can also receive a fine, regardless of the rest of the legal implications that the conduct entails.