00:01The European Parliament on Tuesday approved a resolution calling for an EU-wide definition of rape based on the absence
00:08of freely given and informed consent.
00:11The resolution urges that only a clear, affirmative, freely given and unambiguous indication of consent is valid in sexual relations.
00:21It adds that silence, a lack of verbal or physical resistance or the absence of a no cannot be interpreted
00:29as consent.
00:30Any sexual act outside this framework should be considered rape.
00:35Lack of consent is already a defining element of rape or sexual assault in 17 EU member states according to
00:42the European Parliament Research Service.
00:44However, legislation in several member states still relies on a force-based definition of rape requiring victims to prove violence
00:53or threats.
00:54Supporters of the resolution argue that recent cases have exposed the limits of force-based definitions.
01:01Speaking to your news, Abir al-Salani pointed to cases in France involving drugging and online abuse as evidence of
01:09evolving forms of sexual violence.
01:11It comes because of all these scandals that have been surrounding this topic, from the case of Madame Pelicot in
01:18France to the rape, so-called rape academy, where you drug women, where the partners drug women, they raped them
01:27and they streamed it online.
01:28So the violence has evolved against women. Sexual violence in Europe has evolved.
01:33It is now up to the European Commission to propose legislation, which would then need to be approved by EU
01:40member states.
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