Member States and the European Parliament met on Tuesday November 14 to discuss again the Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, which aims in particular to ban forced marriage and genital mutilation, sexual harassment or even forced sterilization. If this bill presented by the Commission on March 8, 2022 is more of a consensus, the contradictions crystallize on one point: namely, knowing whether or not the Twenty-Seven adopt a common definition of rape, which would actually lead to convergence sanctions at European level .
It is imperative for the European Parliament, which adopted its position in July, that this is the case and that this Community definition of rape, as the Commission proposes, is based on the idea of consent: it is enough that the victim “n” “I did not consent to the sexual act” so that the “crime of rape” could be “characterized,” the two institutions judge. “Only this latter approach allows the sexual integrity of victims to be fully protected,” says Article 5 of the Commission’s draft law on rape, which the European Parliament has adopted in full.
“Only yes means yes,” echoes Swedish MEP (S&D) Evin Incir. MEPs have also suggested that they could not be satisfied with legislation that would ignore the problem of rape, which, according to an INSEE report published in December 2021, kills more than 100,000 European women every year. “The entire European Union [UE] should take the same position on this issue. Sex without consent is rape. “It is impossible to accept any requirements other than the absence of consent,” said equal opportunities officer Helena Dalli on October 9th.
“Why such a U-turn? »
For their part, the Member States decided in June to exclude Article 5 of the Commission’s draft law from the negotiations. Some of them, especially France, but also Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, do not want to hear about a European definition of rape. Germany isn’t happy either. Conversely, Greece, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Croatia, Sweden, Ireland, Spain and Portugal are in favor, but at this point this is not enough.
Within the EU, each country has its own definition of this crime. In Belgium, as in fifteen other Member States, the law introduces the concept of consent as the main element of the crime. Elsewhere, the definition of rape is based primarily on the use of force to commit it. France therefore considers that a sexual act was committed under threat, coercion, surprise or violence.
You still have 55% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.