Contact us T +32 (0)2 626 07 20 | info@europeangreens.eu

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • Flickr

Donate

  • Login to your account
  • User account
  • About Us
    • Organisation
    • People
    • Networks and Working Groups
    • Guidelines
  • Our Positions
    • Positions
    • Resolutions
    • Policy Papers
    • Manifesto
  • Get involved
    • Climate Action
    • European Green Recovery Campaign
    • Green Talking Heads
    • European Ideas Lab
    • The Green Screen
    • Local Councillors' Network
  • Member Parties
  • News
    • News
    • Press Releases
    • Brand Assets
    • Communications Team
  • Events
Home
  • About Us
  • Our Positions
  • Get involved
  • Member Parties
  • News
  • Events

Consent is sexy!

Share
Share on FacebookShare on Twittershare on Linked Inshare on Google Plusshare via email

EGP Resolution adopted at the 33rd EGP Council, 25-29 May 2021


Consent is sexy!

We are currently observing a serious rollback against sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in Europe. Including Poland’s recently increased restrictions on access to abortion and Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. The widespread levels of attrition[1] in Europe suggest that states are failing the due diligence obligations they have under international and regional human rights law, both in protecting women and girls from sexual violence and providing access to justice. A comprehensive protection of SRHR, including the recognition of consent as one of its key elements, is essential to achieving gender equality. The Istanbul Convention is a milestone for Europe as it obliges its state parties to criminalize all non-consensual acts of a sexual nature. Therefore, Europe needs to take action on consent, implement consent-based definitions of sexual violence, especially rape, in legislation, institutions and policy, and fight against gender-based violence, to protect and fulfil the rights of people in all their diversity*, especially for women and girls who are the most affected.

The legal definitions for terms like rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse vary from state to state and mostly date back to the last century. Predominantly, rape continues to be categorized according to the degree of physical violence used or threatened by the perpetrator. Furthermore, it often includes the necessity to show that the survivor was in a state of fear or helplessness and unable to defend themselves or to express their will. In many countries, when a person does not explicitly say “no”, does not defend themselves, or is otherwise coerced, rape might not be considered as having taken place. The European-wide lack of consent-based definitions of sexualised violence, especially in relation to rape, leads to disastrous consequences and advantages for the offenders in cases where the survivor was not able to articulate their will. 

The absence of ‘no’ does not imply consent. 70% of the survivors freezes during rape and are not able to defend themselves. Consent means actively saying yes or showing agreement otherwise. The absence of consent by the survivor must be at the heart of what constitutes sexualized violence including rape. By ignoring this, many countries de facto prevent non-consensual sexual acts from being criminalised.

According to the 2014 survey from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), one in ten women in the EU (11%) has been sexually assaulted since the age of 15. Furthermore, one in 20 women in the EU has been raped since the age of 15 – about 9 million women. Persons from the LGBTQI+ community, women of colour, women with disabilities, migrant women, and/or those from deprivileged socio-economic backgrounds are also often at higher risk of experiencing sexual 
violence. Existent discrimination of these groups makes it even more difficult for affected persons to seek support after being assaulted.
 

For a clear legal definition of rape

Only with a legal framework on sexualised violence, including rape, based on consent can we bring more perpetrators of sexualised violence to justice.

Sexualised violence, including rape, has to be determined by a lack of consent, regardless if it is carried out by a person directly or by a third party. Sexualised violence can occur online and offline and can happen even when sexual services are provided in exchange for goods or money, or in marriages. All acts of sexualised violence have to be criminalised - and sufficient penalties imposed. 

Let’s talk about consent...

Consent can be expressed both verbally and nonverbally. Consent is given freely, voluntarily and without coercion, similarly it can be revoked at any time without an obligation for an explanation. Once a person expresses that they no longer consent to an act of sexual nature, continuing that act is an act of sexual violence. Sexual acts are individually consented to. Physical signs of arousal can not be interpreted as consenting to sex. A person needs to have the mental capacity to consent to sexual acts, and cannot be in a state of unawareness - such as being asleep, unconscious or severely intoxicated. A consent-based legal framework should also take into account the particular situation of certain persons with disabilities regarding their capacity to establish free and informed consent. It is the responsibility of the person initiating an act to ask for consent.


Age of Consent

As consent needs to be informed, given freely, voluntarily and without coercion, being able to consent to sexual acts requires the adequate psychological abilities to do so.

For this reason, the EGP calls for the introduction of a minimum age of consent in criminal law. This should not be intended to govern consensual sexual activities between minors or people who are close in age and degree of psychological and physical development or maturity. For sex with a person in a position of power over the sexual partner the age of consent is always 18.
 

Comprehensive Sex Education

Sex education needs to be encompassing, age-appropriate, non-intercoursecentric, and sex-positive. A comprehensive sex education curriculum covers many areas and includes: teaching about consent, boundaries, and interpersonal communication in all relationships; fostering a safe space for non-judgmental discussions about adolescence, puberty, sex and sexual pleasure as well as diverse forms of sexuality;; deconstructing rape culture[2]; offering up-to-date and factful information on safe sex, sexually transmitted infections, genital mutilation, circumcision, and data on sexual violence. All of these areas require an intersectional approach without othering, in order to be inclusive and relevant to all students regardless of their gender identity, sexual orientation, sex characteristics, disability, religion or belief, and/or ethnicity.
 

Because it is high time to end rape culture and to change our laws so that they can actively contribute to, rather than hinder, the eradication of gender-based violence, the European Green Party:

  1. Commits to establish a consent-based standard for all EGP member parties to implement Article 36 of the Istanbul Convention - because only yes means yes.
  2. Calls on all Member parties to actively campaign for - and if in government coalition implement -consent-based law on sexualized violence including rape in their countries.
  1. Calls on the Member States of the Council of Europe to adopt an amendment to the penal code with a definition of sexualized violence including rape based on the absence of consent.
  2. Calls on the Member States of the Council of Europe to also outlaw legislation that enables early and/or forced marriage.
  3. Calls on the Member States of the Council of Europe and on the European Union
      • to ratify and fully implement the Istanbul Convention, especially Article 36;
      • to bring the adoption of legislation on gender-based violence to the European level, to provide easily accessible, confidential and gender-sensitive channels to report sexual violence, while ensuring the protection of reporting persons, the timely investigation of their reports and effective prosecution of any crimes;
      • to implement appropriate comprehensive sex education in schools according to the criteria mentioned above;
      • to produce scientific survey data, in order to have access to reliable and comparable figures on non-consensual sex, coordinated at the European level;
      • to implement a real training plan for health, justice, and law enforcement professionals to respond to the needs of survivors of gender-based and sexual violence and to understand the rape culture around it, to ensure the operation of enough shelters dedicated to survivors of violence and to allocate the necessary budget for these actions.
  1. Calls on all actors to implement the consent-based framework within their structures, to provide training on consent and rape culture, and commit to fighting for this framework across Europe and in their foreign policy.

  

 

 

[1] Attrition: When women and girls* find the courage to report rape, cases are often dropped at various stages of the legal process. Oftentimes, alleged perpetrators are not prosecuted and held accountable for their crimes. This is called attrition. P.26 onwards: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur01/9452/2018/en/

[2] Rape culture is a concept used to describe when rape is pervasive and normalized in society. Including acts from victim blaming, sl*t shaming, and objectification of women - to catcalling, stalking, non-consensual exposure, and groping - and rape. Raising consciousness about what rape culture is and how it is pervasive at different levels of society allows for it to be tackled.


Related downloads:
AttachmentSize
PDF icon EN102.8 KB

Recent News

Icon:
Title:

Tabled resolutions for the 35th European Green Party Council

Post date:
20 May 2022
Body:

The 35th European Green Party Council which will be held on 3-5 June in Riga, Latvia, is fast approaching! This Council's resolutions, which put into writing our common positions and are voted on at the event, tackle topics that are on the forefront of the Green agenda.Draft resolutions, tabled by member parties and groups across Europe, are summarised in this article. 

Icon:
Title:

Transnational lists will make European elections truly European

Post date:
16 May 2022
Body:

On 3 May 2022, the European Parliament adopted a position on transnational lists with large majority within a major reform of EU electoral law! They would contribute to the creation of a truly European political system with European constituents that would sit alongside the existing constituencies of Member States.

Icon:
Title:

Energy independence is the way forward in the fight against Putin!

Post date:
11 May 2022
Body:

Greens in government in Belgium, Germany and Ireland have worked on unprecedented energy packages to secure energy independence and fast-track the green transition. These packages battle rising energy bills, enhance energy efficiency, invest in renewables and phase out fossil fuels.

More News

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • Flickr
Tweet Contents:

''My Favorite War' is not a film about the past, but about the necessity of choice in our lives. It’s a film about the necessity of freedom of speech, also about hope’.
- @IlzeBJ

📽️ #TheGreenScreen will stream the film on 26 May-2 June

Book now 👉 https://t.co/rJVsZ8SZT5 https://t.co/xWMaDgd4G1

Tweet Author:
europeangreens
Creation Date:
6 min ago
Tweet Contents:

@eloibadia @claireroumet @sergicampillo_ 🌻💚 Thanks for taking part!

Tweet Author:
europeangreens
Creation Date:
16 hours ago
Tweet Contents:

⚡️ Our energy futures are being decided today. We must ensure that they lead to resilience & peace.

🎙 In our #GreenTalkingHeads Podcast, @claireroumet, @eloibadia and @sergicampillo_ discuss how Greens are leading the energy transition.

Listen now 👉 https://t.co/FBSOmkkTWf https://t.co/dIKWRdIpTv

Tweet Author:
europeangreens
Creation Date:
17 hours ago

Sign up to our newsletter

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Fill in the blank.

Take charge of your future. Donate Green.

Chip in today to help us build a Greener Europe!

Donate

  • Organisation
    • About
    • History
    • Councils
    • Congresses
    • Finance Advisory Board
    • Amendments Committee
    • Conciliation Panel
  • People
    • Committee
    • Team
    • Vacancies
    • Traineeships
  • Networks and Working Groups
    • Networks
      • Balkan
      • Gender
      • tilt!
      • Queer
      • Local Councillors
      • Seniors
    • Working Groups
      • Foreign and Security Policy
      • Future of Europe
      • Trade
  • Guidelines
    • Charter
    • Statutes
    • Rulebook
    • Finances
    • Privacy Policy
  • Our Positions
    • Positions
    • Resolutions
    • Policy Papers
    • Manifesto
  • Member Parties
  • News
    • News
    • Press Releases
    • Brand Assets
    • Communications Team
  • Events
  • Campaigns
    • Climate Action for the People and the Planet
    • European Green Recovery Campaign
  • Donate
Home

Rue du Taciturne 34

B-1000 Brussels, Belgium

T +32 (0) 2 626 07 20

info@europeangreens.eu

© European Greens - With the financial support of the European Parliament. Sole liability remains with the author.

cookies