The EU has adopted its first directive on violence against women.
However, the new law will not include the offence of rape after member states, including Ireland, failed to agree on its legal definition.
Despite its exclusion, the directive will include the offences of female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, unauthorised sharing of intimate material and cyber stalking.
Dublin MEP Frances Fitzgerald, who negotiated on behalf of the European Parliament, welcomed the agreement. According to her, it is only “the beginning, not the end”.
But she expressed disappointment at the removal of the definition of rape based on a person not giving consent. She told a press conference:
There is unfinished business quite clearly. Many of us would have got quite disturbing insights into the attitudes to rape in the member states when we could not get a consent based definition of rape into this directive.
While the directive does not include rape as an offence, it does contain language on prevention, requiring member states to promote the role of consent in sexual relationships and to take targeted measures to prevent rape.
Irish human rights groups such as the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and Women’s Aid have previously urged countries to include rape as a crime in the directive.
Irish law around rape is already based on a person not giving consent. However, it was hoped that the directive could harmonise rules across the EU, as some countries include the use of force in their definition. Now that the directive on violence against women has been harmonised, member states will have to incorporate it into national law.
