MADRID (Reuters) -Spain’s government on Tuesday proposed a new law on gender-based violence making it a separate crime when an abuser hurts someone close to their victim — like a child, parent or pet — in order to cause the victim more pain.

A draft bill seeks to codify so-called "vicarious", or indirect, gender-based violence committed to intimidate, control, punish or extract revenge. Mexico passed similar legislation at the federal level in late 2023.

Spain's centre-left government has made women's rights a priority, tightening laws on sexual consent and gender violence, expanding protections and funding for victims and pressing businesses to close pay gaps and boost female leadership.

"These measures aim to ... once again put Spain at the forefront of policies promoting real equality," Equality Minister Ana Redondo told reporters.

The legislation's goal is to protect victims but also to raise awareness within Spanish society of "such radical, savage, inconceivable violence", she added.

Government data identifies 65 minors as killed in cases of vicarious violence since 2013, when authorities started recording the phenomenon.

The draft bill is still subject to public consultation and advisory reports before final cabinet approval. It will then be sent to parliament, where it requires an absolute majority to become law.

The proposed changes to the criminal code would carry a prison sentence of up to three years.

They also include a new penalty for "publishing information or documents produced directly or indirectly by the perpetrator to continue causing pain and damage to the victim's moral integrity", according to Redondo.

This appeared to be a reaction to the unpublished book "Hatred", which recounts the testimony of a man who killed both his children in 2011 after his wife filed for divorce.

Public outcry over the book led its publisher to cancel the planned release earlier this year.

(Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Aislinn Laing, William Maclean)