Changes from plenary report to adopted text

RemovedMOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

AddedP10_TA(2026)0120

Changedon importanceImportance of consent-based rape legislation in the EU

Removed(2025/2040(INI))

AddedCommittee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

AddedPE774.376

AddedEuropean Parliament resolution of 28 April 2026 on the importance of consent-based rape legislation in the EU (2025/2040(INI))

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The European Parliament,

– having regard to Article 2 and Article 3(2) and (3) of the Treaty on European Union, to Articles 8, 10 and 19 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and to Articles 83(1) and 82(2) TFEU, which addresses the mutual recognition of judgments and police and judicial cooperation,

– having regard to Article 83(1) TFEU, which allows Parliament and the Council to establish minimum rules on the definition of criminal offences and sanctions in the areas of particularly serious crime with a cross-border dimension, including gender-based violence,

– having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in particular Article 21 thereof, which prohibits discrimination, Article 45 thereof, which establishes the right to freedom of movement, and Article 47 thereof, which establishes the right to a fair trial,

– having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention),which the EU ratified in 2023, in particular Article 36 thereof, which requires the criminalisation of non-consensual sexual acts, and to the country monitoring reports by the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence,

– having regard to Articles 21 and 3 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and to Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, which establishes gender equality as a core value of the Union, to be mainstreamed across all policies and programmes,

– having regard to the second general report on the activities of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, published in April 2021,

Changed– having regard to Recommendation Rec (2002) 5REC(2002)5 of 30 April 2002 of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on the protection of women against violence, which urges the member states of the Council of Europe to penalise any sexual act committed against non-consenting persons, even if they do not show signs of resistance,

Changed– having regard to Directive (EU) 2024/1385 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on combating violence against women and domestic violence1,violence,

Changed– having regard to Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA22001/220/JHA (Victims’ Rights Directive), which provides a framework for victim-centred justice, including in cases of sexual violence,

Changed– having regard to the Commission proposal of 6 February 2024 for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child sexual abuse material and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA (COM(2024)0060), which includes a definition of a non-consensual act, and to Parliament’s position of 17 June 2025 on this proposal3,proposal,

Changed– having regard to the Commission proposal of 8 March 2022 for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on combating violence against women and domestic violence (COM(2022)0105), which includes the extension of the list of EU crimes under Article 83(1) TFEU to include gender-based violence, and to Parliament’s resolution of 16 September 2021 with recommendations to the Commission on identifying gender-based violence as a new area of crime listed in Article 83(1) TFEU4,TFEU,

– having regard to the EU strategy for gender equality 2020-2025, which calls for enhanced protection against gender-based violence and for comprehensive sexual education promoting consent awareness,

Changed– having regard to its resolution of 15 February 2023 on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion, by the European Union, of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence5,violence,

– having regard to the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) of 4 December 2003 in MC v Bulgaria (Application No 39272/98), in which the ECtHR established the positive obligation of states to enact criminal law provisions to effectively investigate and punish rape, clarified that requiring proof of physical resistance risks leaving certain types of rape unpunished, and held that Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) require the penalisation and effective prosecution of any non-consensual sexual act, including in the absence of physical resistance,

– having regard to the judgment of the ECtHR of 27 May 2021 in JL v Italy (Application No 5671/16), which found that reliance on stereotypes and victim-blaming during rape trials constitutes a violation of the right to respect for private life under Article 8 ECHR,

– having regard to the Yogyakarta Principles, adopted in November 2006, and the Yogyakarta Principles Plus 10, adopted in November 2017,

Changed– having regard to the surveys and reports produced by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), such as the survey of 2014 on violence against women and, in particular the survey of 2024 on gender-based violence in the EU, according to which 17.217,2 % of the women in the EU Member States have experienced sexual violence6,violence, and the 2024 report on LGBTIQ+ people in Europe,

Changed– having regard to the FRA report of 10 June 2025 entitled ‘Fundamental Rights Report 2025’, in particular to FRA Opinion 2 on effectively protecting women victims of violence 7,,

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– having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

– having regard to the UN declaration of 15 September 1995 entitled ‘Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action’ and to the outcomes of the review conferences thereon,

– having regard to the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and to General Recommendation No 35 (2017) of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women of 26 July 2017 on gender-based violence against women,

– having regard to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to the principle of ‘leaving no one behind’ enshrined therein, and in particular to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 4, 5, 10 and 16,

– having regard to Communication No 34/2011 of 21 February 2014 of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which urges states to revise rape legislation by removing requirements relating to force or proof of penetration and placing the absence of consent at the core of the offence,

– having regard to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and in particular to Article 7(1)(g) thereof, which recognises rape and other forms of sexual violence as crimes against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population,

– having regard to the report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences of 19 April 2021 entitled ‘Rape as a grave, systematic and widespread human rights violation, a crime and a manifestation of gender-based violence against women and girls, and its prevention’, which was submitted to the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council, as well as to the accompanying framework for legislation on rape,

– having regard to Rule 55 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the joint deliberations of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality under Rule 59 of the Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A10-0047/2026),

A. whereas acts of sexual violence are criminalised under international human rights law in both war and peacetime; whereas in the contexts of both international humanitarian law and international criminal law, rape is identified as a potential war crime, a crime against humanity, or an act contributing to genocide, provided other requisite elements of these crimes are present; whereas this classification is articulated in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 8) and the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols; whereas the legal interpretation of rape as a war crime, as per the International Criminal Court, includes the absence of consent as a crucial element;

B. whereas according to the ECtHR, definitions based on the use of force as the main constituent element of the crime offer inadequate protection to victims of sexual violence and jeopardise the effective protection of individuals’ sexual autonomy;

C. whereas rape is a violation of a range of human rights, including the right to bodily integrity, the rights to autonomy and sexual autonomy, the right to privacy, the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, women’s right to equality before the law, and the rights to be free from violence, discrimination, torture and other cruel or inhuman treatment; whereas rape also denies the victim the full enjoyment of a range of other human rights, such as the right to life, dignity, physical and mental integrity, the right to liberty and personal security, the right to equality within the family and before the law regardless of gender and gender identity, and the right to be free from discrimination, torture and other ill treatment, among others;

D. whereas gender-based violence remains one of the most pervasive and under-reported violations of human rights in Europe and demands a European response; whereas the current international human rights legal framework acknowledges rape as both a violation of human rights and a form of gender-based violence predominantly affecting women and girls; whereas rape is one of the most pervasive and brutal forms of gender-based violence, breaching individuals’ physical, psychological and sexual integrity and bodily autonomy and having severe and lasting effects on survivors;

E. whereas gender-based violence severely limits women’s and girls’ participation in public life and their access to justice, education and economic independence, and therefore constitutes a structural obstacle to the achievement of true gender equality; whereas victims of rape experience severe and long-lasting consequences, including social and economic consequences, such as loss of employment, financial dependence, housing instability and reduced participation in education or in the workplace, which compound the effects of violence and entrench gender inequality;

Change 1

ChangedF. whereas according to FRA and EIGE, 17.217,2 % of women in the EU have experienced sexual violence, including rape and other unwanted sexual acts, and 1 in 20 women has been raped, with use of force, since the age of 158;15; whereas according to FRA, violence against LGBTIQ+ people has increased in recent years, with trans women being disproportionately exposed to physical and sexual violence; whereas LGBTIQ+ persons also suffer sexual violence because of their gender, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics; whereas the annual estimated cost of gender-based violence in the EU is EUR 366 billion;

G. whereas the cross-border dimension of the offence of rape creates a special need to combat rape on a common basis within the EU in order to ensure more consistent protection and equal access to justice for victims across all Member States, with a number of key elements: the need to ensure a minimum level of protection for all women in all Member States, the need to ensure a minimum level of protection when women exercise their freedom of movement throughout the Union, as the absence of a harmonised definition of rape undermines victims’ legal certainty and access to justice and may thus constitute a barrier to free movement, and the need and obligation to align EU law with international standards such as the Istanbul Convention, which requires the criminalisation of rape on the basis of a lack of consent;

H. whereas the current legal landscape in the EU remains fragmented, with diverse judicial interpretations and diverging definitions of rape that do not always reflect international human rights standards or the Istanbul Convention’s requirements regarding consent; whereas the lack of harmonised legal definitions across Member States undermines victims’ rights, impedes cross-border cooperation, and contributes to impunity for perpetrators and a lack of awareness of what constitutes an act of sexual violence; while several Member States still define rape on the basis of the use of force or threat, thereby excluding many victims from legal protection; whereas this underscores the urgent need for an EU-wide consent-based definition of rape; whereas introducing a common legal definition of rape that is based on lack of consent would help to improve police and judicial cooperation and enhance the collection and comparability of data on rape in the EU;

Change 2

ChangedI. whereas all the Member States have signed the Istanbul Convention but five have yet to ratify it9;it; whereas of these, only two have recently reformed their legislation to give consent a central role in defining the crime of rape10;rape; whereas since the entry into force of the Istanbul Convention, 16 Member States have amended their legislation to incorporate or make more explicit the notion of consent as a constitutive element of the crime of rape; whereas the EU acceded to the Convention in 2023 for areas under its exclusive competence; whereas the Istanbul Convention’s provision on a consent-based definition of rape has been a turning point for legal reform, marking a shift from the traditional approach whereby the definition of rape implies the assumption of violence; whereas in its Fundamental Rights Report 2025, the FRA states that the Member States that have ratified the Istanbul Convention should criminalise sexual violence using consent-based definitions of rape and other forms of sexual violence;

Change 3

ChangedJ. whereas the ECtHR has played a pivotal role in shaping the modern understanding of rape under human rights law, notably through its 2003 landmark judgment in MC v Bulgaria, where it established the positive obligation of states to enact criminal law provisions to effectively investigate and punish rape, found that requiring proof of physical resistance from the victim risks leaving certain types of rape unpunished and fails to protect sexual autonomy as required under Articles 3 and 8 ECHR, and held that these articles require the penalisation and effective prosecution of any non-consensual sexual act, including in the absence of physical resistance; whereas subsequent ECtHR judgments, such as those handed down in JL v Italy (2021) and X v Cyprus (2025)11,(2025), have condemned the use of victim-blaming arguments and stereotypes in judicial proceedings, finding that such practices constitute a violation of the right to respect for private life under Article 8 ECHR, and perpetuate prejudice and hinder access to justice for survivors of sexual violence; whereas the ECtHR established, in its judgment in HW v France12,France, that any non-consensual sexual act constitutes a form of sexual violence; whereas in its judgment in L and Others v France13,France, the ECtHR interpreted Articles 3 and 8 ECHR as requiring parties to the ECHR to have criminal law systems capable of punishing non-consensual sexual acts;

K. whereas the UN Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women states that legislation must provide for aggravating circumstances, including, for example, the age of the survivor, the relationship between the survivor and the perpetrator, the use or threat of physical violence, the presence of multiple perpetrators, and grave physical or mental consequences of the attack on the victim; whereas the handbook further states that legislation should ‘specifically criminalize sexual assault within a relationship (i.e. “marital rape”), either by providing that sexual assault provisions apply “irrespective of the nature of the relationship” between the perpetrator and complainant or stating that “no marriage or other relationship shall constitute a defence to a charge of sexual assault under the legislation”’;

L. whereas on 16 September 2021, Parliament adopted a resolution on identifying gender-based violence as a new area of crime listed in Article 83(1) TFEU; whereas that resolution called on the Member States to amend the definition of ‘rape’ in their national law so that it is based on the absence of consent, and stressed that gender-based violence is a serious violation of human rights and dignity and that rape is a form of gender-based violence;

M. whereas Article 83 TFEU should be the applicable legal basis for legislative proposals regarding the offence of rape because rape is a particularly serious crime with a cross-border dimension and falls within the area of crime of ‘sexual exploitation of women and children’;

Change 4

ChangedN. whereas the term ‘sexual exploitation’ in Article 83(1) TFEU is not limited to trafficking alone, as such a narrow interpretation would unjustly confine ‘trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of women and children’ to trafficking offences; whereas the wording and legislative practice, including the Child Sexual Abuse Directive14,Directive, show that ‘sexual exploitation’ covers a broader range of offences, including sexual abuse; whereas sexual exploitation commonly refers to the unjust use of another person for sexual benefit, involving victim vulnerability, which is central to the crime of rape;

O. whereas Article 36 of the Istanbul Convention obliges the criminalisation of all non-consensual sexual acts and specifies that ‘consent must be given voluntarily as the result of the person’s free will assessed in the context of the surrounding circumstances’; whereas this principle is consistent with ECtHR rulings and with national case-law;

P. whereas consent is a voluntary agreement to engage in a particular sexual activity and can be withdrawn at any time;

Change 5

ChangedQ. whereas many Member States15States and a number of other European countries16countries have already introduced consent-based definitions of rape in their criminal codes, which has resulted in more efficient prevention, reporting and prosecution of sexual abuse crimes and has increased public awareness;

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R. whereas Parliament’s position and mandate on the directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence was strongly in favour of including a consent-based definition of the offence of rape in the text, as in the Commission’s proposal; whereas the Council, regrettably, was of the opinion that the criminalisation of rape should not be included in that directive;

S. whereas the Commission’s proposal for a directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence included a proposal to criminalise rape on the basis of the recognition that ‘sexual exploitation of women’ includes rape; whereas this interpretation is consistent with the Treaties’ commitment to equality between women and men; whereas, therefore, Article 83(1) TFEU is an appropriate legal basis for establishing minimum EU rules on the definition of rape;

T. whereas survivors of rape are frequently asked about their lack of resistance to being sexually assaulted, with perpetrators claiming that the absence of resistance on the victims’ part indicates passive agreement; whereas in a Swedish study, 70 % of victims of sexual violence reported significant tonic immobility, also known as the ‘freeze response’; whereas a reaction known as ‘frozen fright’ (or tonic immobility), rather than active physical resistance to the perpetrator, is the most common response among survivors of rape; whereas lack of resistance or ‘freezing’ is a common involuntary response and a survival reflex in the face of threat, and can result in immobility (fixed posture, loss of muscle tone, inability to perform voluntary actions), disassociation, whereby a person’s awareness is disconnected from disturbing and painful sensations and emotions arising in their body, and a loss of a sense of agency; whereas this reality cannot be ignored to ensure access to justice for survivors of rape and promote a legal and social environment in which rape is no longer tolerated;

U. whereas factors such as coercion, force, threats, financial and psychological dependency, physical or mental conditions – such as tonic immobility, freezing, surprise, a state of fear, intimidation, unconsciousness, intoxication, chemical submission, sleep, illness, bodily injury, disability or other conditions, or another situation of particular vulnerability – or structural and intersectional discrimination can create vulnerabilities and peril and can prevent free consent, which is key in rape cases;

V. whereas trauma from sexual assault can impact the functioning of memory, leading to fragmented or missing recollections of the events and distortions in time sequences, making it difficult to remember in which order the events took place; whereas trauma resulting from rape is linked with post-traumatic stress disorder and other severe mental health symptoms, including decreased concentration, anxiety, panic attacks, severe depression, flashbacks and nightmares;

W. whereas relying on material evidence of resistance, threats or violence perpetuates harmful rape myths and stereotypes about how victims are expected to behave, contributing to secondary victimisation, especially in cases where victims do not conform to socially constructed expectations of trauma, resistance or visible injury; whereas these practices contribute to distrust in the law enforcement and justice systems, leading to low reporting rates among victims and impunity for perpetrators;

X. whereas sexual autonomy and bodily integrity are inviolable rights, and the purpose of consent-based rape legislation is to strengthen the protection thereof; whereas shifting to a consent-based model of rape law is critical in acknowledging that sexual autonomy and integrity can be violated even in situations where there is no physical violence, such as where there are coercive dynamics or abuse of power;