By Eliane Portillo

Mexico is on its way to establish femicide as a federal crime, following the approval of a draft reform to the country's Penal Code in the House of Deputies.

The proposal, endorsed on Thursday, will be voted next week by the House before being submitted to the Senate for its eventual ratification, and it includes penalties of 40 to 60 years in prison and from 500 to 1,000 days of fine for offenders. According to the decree endorsed by the commissions of Justice and Gender Equality, this crime will be given the treatment of qualified fraudulent homicide against a woman, under certain circumstances.

The crime will be considered as femicide if the victim shows signs of sexual violence of any kind, and if there are defamatory or degrading injuries, or mutilations inflicted prior to or after the deprivation of life, as well as when there is a history of any kind of sexual, physical, psychological or economic violence in the family.

The amendment specifies that the offender will lose all rights in relation to the victim.

Femicide has increased considerably in recent years and the highest incidence of this crime was reported in the states of Durango, Baja California, Chiapas and Chihuahua, according to the House of Deputies.