[Brussels 05 July] Sexual violence against women continues to be one of the most brutal forms of gender-based violence, while at the same time remaining very much a taboo subject. Research into people who have survived raps show that a great majority of sex crimes remain undisclosed, unreported and for those that are reported, under prosecuted.
The EWL chose to work on this topic because rape is consistently criminalised and is codified in all national legislation in Europe. Its basic definition has evolved over the last decades, and in different forms in EU countries, from a force-based definition with requirements of proof of resistance to a sexual act committed against a non-consenting person. Although some existing research highlights the prevalence of this form of violence, it is also the ‘forgotten issue’ (Kelly & Regan)
The Council of Europe convention on on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) adopted in 2011 and currently in process of ratification, sets minimum standards for sexual violence and rape (art. 36). We wanted to know how the different national legislations in different Member States comply with these minimum standards for the definition of rape.
Of the 32 countries reviewed (Slovakia’s result is missing) study carried out with EU-27 countries plus Croatia, now EU, Iceland, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine, only 5 have legislation that corresponds to the CoE definition, 3 meet minimum standards and 2 are defined as having better legislation. The remaining 21 countries have legislation that should be improved, especially in recognising the lack of consent as an essential element of recognising rape.
You can read the report
here
Attached documents
