Parliamentary report calls for adding “non-consent” to criminal definition of rape

This is one more element brought into the public debate on whether or not it is appropriate to introduce the notion of “non-consent” into the definition of rape. The deputies Véronique Riotton (Together for the Republic, Haute-Savoie) and Marie-Charlotte Garin (Ecologist and social, Rhône), co-rapporteurs of a parliamentary information mission on the criminal definition of rape, are in favor of a such rewriting, in their final report presented Tuesday January 21. At the same time, they tabled a bill so that the National Assembly puts this on the agenda. “paradigm shift”.

The transpartisan parliamentary information mission was launched in December 2023, at the instigation of the women's rights delegation of the National Assembly, following heated debates relating to a draft European directive on the fight against violence against women and domestic violence. In their report, M^mes Riotton and Garin, respectively president and vice-president of the delegation for women's rights at the National Assembly, emphasize that defining rape as an act of sexual penetration without consent would put France in compliance with its international commitments, such as the Convention on 'Istanbul against violence against women in 2011, of which she is a signatory.

Other reasons are given. First of all, the deputies recall the obstacles encountered by rape victims in their legal process and the impunity which still surrounds this crime, even though, since #MeToo, the extent of sexist and sexual violence is now known. “The statistics – although very incomplete in this area – are edifying”they write, citing official figures in particular: 8 out of 10 victims do not file a complaint and 73% of complaints for sexual violence are dismissed. And, very often, “despite advances in jurisprudence and despite the good will of certain professionals”good house name (“staze, situations of control and coercion, strategies developed by certain attackers of abuse of vulnerability”) still escape justice, due, they believe, to “silence of the law on the notion of consent”.

You have 55.22% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.