As of: February 12, 2024, 7:09 p.m
By: Giorgia Grimaldi
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The EU draft “Yes means yes” has failed.
What does this mean for women in Germany and how is “consensus” actually regulated in this country?
Germany is discussing the protection of women - the reason for this is an EU law.
The first draft proposed criminalizing offenses such as cyberstalking and online intimidation across the EU.
The offense of rape should also be standardized.
The EU Commission proposed that any sexual act against a woman that is not consensual should be classified as rape, following the Swedish model.
In short: only a yes is a yes.
In addition to France and Hungary, Germany also blocked this proposal.
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann expressed legal concerns because national criminal law exceeds the competences of the European Union.
Even legal experts do not agree on whether this is actually the case.
However, Germany's “blockade attitude,” as feminist activist Kristina Lunz calls it, angered many women.
In an open letter on January 29th, Lunz asked Buschmann to approve the draft.
Over 100 women from politics, business and culture signed the letter.
New EU law passed, but without “yes means yes”
The French EU parliamentarian Sylvie Brunet called for a compromise.
The member states have now apparently found it.
Last week they agreed on a law that will in future punish violence against women more harshly across the EU.
Cyber stalking, forced marriage or female genital mutilation will now be punishable throughout the EU.
But Article Five of the draft, which was intended to regulate the offense of rape, did not make it.
What does this mean for Germany?
Are women now more at risk and how is consensus actually regulated in this country?
In conversation with
BuzzFeed News Germany
, a portal from
Ippen.Media,
delivers
Katharina Masoud,
Expert on gender equality, intersectionality, anti-racism and anti-Semitism at Amnesty International in Germany, answers.
Konses in Germany © Sujan Shrestha/ZUMA Wire/IMAGO
Paragraph 177 of the Criminal Code does not fully comply with the Istanbul Convention
With the Istanbul Convention, the signatory states have “clearly” committed to a consensus-based approach, explains Masoud, so it’s about consent and consent.
In Germany there was a legal reform in 2016, i.e. after the signing (2011) and before the convention came into force (2018).
“The well-known 'no means no' rule came about.
This means that it is no longer necessary for a threat of violence or an acute act of violence to occur in order to speak of rape.”
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This is regulated in Section 177 of the Criminal Code.
“Some now assume that the Istanbul Convention has been implemented.”
However, the expert doesn't see it that way.
Amnesty would have welcomed the enshrinement of Article 5 in EU law.
The fact that this project failed does not mean that Germany cannot “tighten things up” at the national level.
Amnesty Germany is not alone in this view.
In an evaluation report - carried out by a Council of Europe committee that reviews the implementation of the Istanbul Convention - Germany was called on as early as 2022 to make further changes of a legal nature in order to actually implement this consensus-based definition.
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The difference between “no means no” and “yes means yes”
The expert emphasizes: “'No means no' does not mean 'yes means yes'.
The Istanbul Convention says yes means yes.” According to Amnesty, there is a need for a regulation that requires “very specific consent”.
“If you say 'yes' to a kiss, you are not consenting to sex.
And consent must be reversible, you must be allowed to change your mind,” says Masoud.
However, there is currently not enough information about whether there are cases in which women did not receive sufficient protection through this regulation and further research is necessary.
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