Watch: EU Agrees On Historic Gender-Based Violence Directive Proposed By Helena Dalli
The European Union has agreed on a historic gender-based and domestic violence directive, aimed to protect women all throughout the union.
This directive was initially proposed by Maltese EU Commissioner Helena Dalli who posted a video last night just after it was approved.
The European Council and Parliament decided on the final draft of the directive which, to Dalli’s dismay, excludes Article 5 on the definition and criminalisation of rape – saying that the crime refers to any sexual act that was done without consent.
This proposal was not agreed upon between the two chambers, with European countries, including Malta, opposing the article.
However, instead, Article 36. B on the prevention of rape was added and it includes the core idea of the former recommendation: only yes means yes.
This means that a sexual act is non-consensual not just when a person says no, but when they are unable or unwilling to give a response.
Nonetheless, this new legal framework is still a major win for all women across the union. The directive aims to ensure that women and secondary victims are equally protected across all 27 member states.
This means that the laws on gender-based and domestic violence across the EU will be the same, a spokesperson of Dalli told Lovin Malta. Nations have two years to fully implement them.
The directive includes a number of new criminal offences including cyber violence (like revenge porn – even through deepfakes) female genital mutilation – this is currently a stand-alone crime in only 12 member states, and forced marriage.
It will further provide essential services like shelters and ensure states raise more awareness through things like campaigns.
Besides new crimes and clearer definitions, the framework also sets out new criteria to make justice more accessible.
It was noted that the number of reports of such violence in the EU does no accurately reflect the reality because it is so hard to actually make the reports. Victims often get discouraged since they have to go through a number of steps and authorities to report the crime/s.
So, the directive is calling on states to have very clear criteria for violence since a lot of data is needed for these reports.
This is not the only successful milestone achieved by Dalli this week. Tomorrow, a successful trialogue regarding the EU-wide disability card is expected.
Such a card will ensure that persons with disabilities will enjoy the same rights and benefits across all member states to encourage and bolster free movement.
The directive established a list of rights to which persons with disabilities will be entitled across the EU.
How do you think this directive will help Maltese women and victims?
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