Member States and the European Parliament met on Tuesday, November 14, to discuss, once again, the directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, which aims in particular to prohibit forced marriages and genital mutilation. women, sexual harassment or even forced sterilization. If this bill, presented by the Commission on March 8, 2022, is rather consensus, one point crystallizes the oppositions: that of knowing whether or not the Twenty-Seven adopt a common definition of rape, which would in fact lead to convergence sanctions at European level.
For the European Parliament, which adopted its position in July, it is imperative that this is the case and that this community definition of rape is based, as the Commission proposes, on the notion of consent: it is sufficient that the victim “did not consent to the sexual act” so that the “crime of rape” either “characterized”judge the two institutions. “Only this last approach allows the complete protection of the sexual integrity of victims”we can read in Article 5 of the Commission’s draft law on rape, which the European Parliament has adopted in its entirety.
“Only yes means yes”say again Swedish MEP (S&D) Evin Incir. MEPs have also indicated that they could not be satisfied with legislation that would ignore the issue of rape of which, according to an INSEE report published in December 2021, more than 100,000 European women are victims each year. year. “The entire European Union [UE] should take the same position on the issue. Sex without consent is rape. It is impossible to accept any requirements other than the absence of consent”declared Helena Dalli, the Equality Commissioner, on October 9.
“Why such an about-face? »
Member States, for their part, decided in June to exclude Article 5 of the Commission’s draft law from the negotiations. Some of them, first and foremost France but also Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, do not want to hear about a European definition of rape. Germany is not enthusiastic either. Conversely, Greece, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Croatia, Sweden, Ireland, Spain and Portugal are in favor, but, at this stage, that is not enough.
Within the EU, each country has its own definition of this crime. In Belgium, the law introduces the notion of consent as the main constituent element of the crime, as in fifteen other member states. Elsewhere, the definition of rape is first and foremost based on the use of force to commit it. Thus, France considers that it is constituted when a sexual act was committed under threat, duress, surprise or violence.
You have 55% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.