Draft bill 126.

Summary.

The draft bill proposes adding Title XV-A, “Crimes Against Human Dignity,” to Book Two of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Panama. The title contains provisions on discrimination, incitement to hatred, and discriminatory profiling by a public official. Art. 1 sets out the proposed offenses, penalties, and ancillary consequences. Art. 2 restates the addition of the title and Articles 456-I through 456-M to the Criminal Code.

Under Article 456-I, a person would face imprisonment for two to four years for denying or restricting another person's access to fundamental rights, goods, services, or public spaces or spaces open to the public because of race, skin color, ethnic or national origin, religion, beliefs, or another analogous characteristic. The same penalty would apply to degrading, humiliating, or exclusionary treatment on those grounds. The conduct must be serious or repeated. The provision covers both exclusion from access and the treatment of the person.

Article 456-J proposes increasing the preceding penalty by one sixth to one third when any listed circumstance applies. These circumstances include commission by a public official in the exercise of official duties, use of violence or intimidation, and conduct carried out or given effect through mass media or computer systems. They also include a victim who is a minor, a person with a disability, or a person in a vulnerable situation under the Brasilia Rules on Access to Justice for Persons in Vulnerable Conditions, as well as repeated conduct.

Article 456-K would criminalize public incitement to violence or discrimination against a person or group on grounds of race, skin color, ethnic or national origin, religion, or beliefs. The communication must use a means capable of reaching an indeterminate number of people, have the purpose of promoting hatred, and constitute direct incitement capable of creating a real danger. The proposed penalty is imprisonment for two to four years.

Article 456-L concerns a public official carrying out public security or immigration control duties. It would apply when that official makes arrests, conducts searches, holds people, or takes other actions restricting rights based decisively on a person's ethnic or national origin, skin color, cultural appearance, or religious or cultural practices. The proposed penalties are imprisonment for three to five years and disqualification from public office for the same period. The offense would exclude an official's application of legal or regulatory immigration control provisions that legitimately use nationality as a criterion, in accordance with the Political Constitution of the Republic of Panama.

Under Article 456-M, the court would impose ancillary reparative and preventive consequences, as appropriate, in addition to the principal penalties. These comprise compensation to the victim for harm and losses, a public correction or apology under conditions equivalent to those in which the conduct occurred, measures to prevent recurrence, and participation in training programs on non-discrimination. Art. 3 provides that the law would take effect on the day following its promulgation.

The draft bill's subject matter relates to the National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional) and to public officials responsible for public security and immigration control. It could be of interest to or affect providers of goods and services, operators of spaces open to the public, mass media, people subject to security or immigration measures, and the people or groups protected against the conduct described.