On Wednesday, the committees on Civil Liberties and Women’s Rights approved changes to a proposed directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence.

A consent-based definition of rape

Building on the Commission’s proposal for a criminal definition of rape based on the absence of consent, MEPs seek to add fear and intimidation to the list of factors that preclude free decision making. Consent must be assessed considering the specific circumstances, MEPs say. They propose complementary criminal rules on sexual assault (i.e. any non-consensual sexual act that cannot be defined as rape) and call for EU legislation on intersex genital mutilation, forced sterilisation, forced marriage, and sexual harassment in work.

Harsher sentencing rules for perpetrators

MEPs want the list of aggravating circumstances to be expanded to include:

• a victim’s residence status, pregnancy, distress, being a victim of trafficking, or living in retirement, children, or asylum seeker…