Feminist activists from various parts of Europe are campaigning to amend the EU law. These activists, who belong to women's organisations, are demanding the addition of the crime of rape into the latest directive against violence towards women. As a part of their efforts, they have initiated the process of collecting signatures for a petition on this issue.

"On behalf of the European Women's Lobby (EWL), the largest women's rights organisation in the EU, we call on you to sign and share a petition for the adoption of a new EU directive addressing violence against women and domestic violence with Article 5 containing a new definition of the crime of rape," reads secure.avaaz.org.

From 1 October 2023, the EU is an official party to the Istanbul Convention - a comprehensive tool to fight against violence against women across Europe. At present, the EU Council, the European Parliament, and the European Commission are in the process of negotiating a new directive that will aim to combat domestic violence and violence against women. The directive is intended to ensure that everyone in the EU is protected from abuse and rape.

"The European Parliament proposes to extend the catalogue of offences that will be listed in the directive. [...] Many Member States in the Council of the EU (including Poland) decided to exclude Article 5 from the directive on violence against women and domestic violence, using legal arguments as an excuse. Five Member States, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg and Ireland, adopted a declaration that there is a sound legal basis for including this article in the directive," - reads secure.avaaz.org.

Article 5 of the directive is crucial for organisations fighting for women's rights. It proposes a new definition of rape. It is to include information referring to the concept of consent, understood as the freely expressed will to have intercourse, regardless of the circumstances.

"The EWL calls on the EU Member States, including France, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden to work towards the adoption of a directive with Article 5 on rape, with the definition of rape including a reference to the absence of freely given consent, regardless of the circumstances," urges the European Women's Lobby.

We encourage you to sign the petition. This can be done here. At this point, 1161 signatures have been collected. The target for the campaign is 2,000.