- The Legal Commission of the Council of States (RK-S) wants to enshrine the principle “No means No” in the new sexual criminal law.
- The demand for an explicit yes from all those involved goes too far for the Commission.
- However, the Commission states that the no to sex can also be expressed without words.
Furthermore, coercion should no longer be necessary for the offense of rape in the future – it is enough if the victim does not want the sex. And: Legally, men should also be able to become victims of rape.
After months of discussions, the commission has completed its work on the revision of sex criminal law, as the parliamentary services have announced. The Council of States is to deal with this for the first time in the summer. The Federal Council will first comment on this.
It is clear that the proposal will be hotly debated. The preliminary draft of the Council of States found only limited support during the consultation. In principle, an extension of the term “rape” and a “only yes means yes” solution were called for. The “no means no” solution was widely seen as too weak.
Verbal or non-verbal no applies
Nevertheless, the RK-S now relies on this principle, as they decided with 9 to 4 votes. She wants to redesign the core provisions of sexual criminal law, namely the offenses of sexual coercion and rape, based on the so-called “No means no” solution, as stated in a statement.
In the future, sexual acts are to be recorded which the perpetrator performs on the victim or has the perpetrator perform by him or her and in doing so disregards the conflicting will of the victim – intentionally or possibly intentionally. This will can be expressed verbally or non-verbally by the victim.
The Council of States had already spoken out in December against the consent principle, as demanded by a canton of Geneva initiative. According to this principle, all non-consensual sexual acts should be criminalized, as is the case in Sweden, for example. This would also correspond to the Istanbul Convention, which Switzerland adopted in 2018.
Rape: Coercion no longer a requirement
Furthermore, according to the draft of the Council of States commission, a separate offense of “sexual assault” should be dispensed with. On the other hand, male victims will also be included in the offense of rape in the future. A new act of rape is anyone who, against the will of a person, engages in intercourse or an act similar to intercourse that involves penetrating the body.
The fact that the perpetrator uses coercion should no longer be a prerequisite for a conviction – not even if the victim could theoretically have defended himself. Violence and threats should very well have an aggravating effect.
The majority of the RK-S also in future provide for a one-year minimum sentence in such cases of rape. A minority proposes that the minimum sentence be set at more than two years in order to rule out that the sentence can be imposed conditionally.