Time to deliver: Recognise rape as sexual exploitation at EU level
[Brussels, 26 January 2023] The European Women’s Lobby (EWL), the largest umbrella organization of women’s associations in Europe, is urging all EU Member States to make Europe a safe place for all women and girls. We call on all Member States in the Council to step up their efforts to work towards enhancing and swiftly adopting a Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, including the provisions based on the EU crime of sexual exploitation of women and children in Article 83(1) TFEU.
The European Women’s Lobby expresses huge concern to learn that several Member States in the Council of the EU are expressing resistance to legislate on the topic of violence against women and girls and domestic violence at EU level; and to agree on a harmonised legal definition of rape which is a systematic form of sexual exploitation and violation of women’s human rights.
The urgency of the problem should be well known by all Member States as there is not a single country in the EU where women and girls are free from violence. Violence against women and girls has no borders: it is the most pervasive violation of women’s human rights that has life-long implications for women’s physical and mental health. There is not a single area in any woman or girl’s life where she is not exposed to the threat or the realisation of acts of violence: from the private sphere at home to the public sphere, including the workplace and the online spaces.
Violence against women and girls threatens the security of half of the population in the EU and there can be no peace and security while women fear for their safety[1]. EU Statistics show that 2 women each day are killed in the EU by their partner or former partner – by those who supposedly loved them. 1 in 3 women have suffered physical and/or sexual violence and 1 in 2 women have experienced sexual harassment since the age of 15. 10% of women in the EU report having been victim of sexual violence, 5% were raped with the use of force[2]. From all the incidents of violent sexual crimes recorded by Eurostat, more than 90% of the victims were women and 99% of the persons convicted were men[3]. Let us remind that today, in the EU, only a small number of women feel safe to report and ask for help[4].
Unfortunately, women’s organisations are well aware that these shocking figures cannot even give us the full picture. In reality, the situation is much worse and the consequences of these forms of violence in the everyday life of the survivors, including their children, are devastating and cannot be put into figures. All public actors should to be invested as much as possible into giving them the response and protection they need at every single political level there is.
For these reasons, the EWL is urging the Member States to send a strong political message and confirm the EU’s commitment to fight this pervasive form of women’s rights violation and discrimination, including all aspects of sexual exploitation. Member States should take on the historical opportunity that we have in front of us now: the European Commission proposal on combating violence against women and domestic violence. There is no legal impediment to adopt, without delay, a comprehensive and effective EU binging instrument to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence.
The proposal issued by the European Commission is a major step and a key opportunity: it lays down a comprehensive set of rules that address the persisting problem of violence against women and domestic violence and respond to the specific needs of its victims. For years, the European Women’s Lobby has been urging decision-makers to recognise the need to fill in an outstanding legislative gap when it comes to the Eurocrime on “sexual exploitation of women”, as per the article 83.1 of the TFEU. Therefore, we ask that rape and female genital mutilation – at a minimum – are criminalized on the basis of the EU crime of sexual exploitation of women and children as proposed by the Commission. These are two fundamental pillars and key elements of the Directive. Without the inclusion of these criminal offenses on sexual exploitation the Directive will be inadmissibly reduced. Without the inclusion of these criminal offenses on sexual exploitation the Directive will be inadmissibly reduced. As per the GREVIO analysis in 2022, only 3 EU Member Sates of those who have ratified the Istanbul Convention have definitions of crime that are aligned with the standards of the Istanbul Convention.
We recall that there is no legal justification that impedes considering these offenses as forms of sexual exploitation. The EU crime of sexual exploitation of women and children has already been used to criminalise sexual abuse of children in the Directive 2011/93/EU on combatting the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. We recall that the European Commission has developed sound legal analysis to assess the legal basis for this Directive and an extensive feasibility study. The European Women’s Lobby, in cooperation with professors and academics on EU law, also developed an extensive analysis that concluded that this interpretation of sexual exploitation is not only accurate from a legal point of view but is also widely supported by women’s organisations and civil society in Europe.
You have a historic opportunity to contribute to put an end violence against women and girls in the EU, including all forms sexual exploitation and cyberviolence. Don’t let victims down: women in the EU are counting on you today.
ENDS — –
The European Women’s Lobby is the largest umbrella organization of women’s associations in Europe. Founded in 1990, the EWL works to promote women’s rights and equality between women and men and represents more than 2000 organizations across Europe.
We remain at your disposal for any further information you might need. Feel welcome to contact:
Laura Kaun, Policy and Campaigns Director
kaun@womenlobby.org
Irene Rosales, Policy and Campaigns Officer
rosales@womenlobby.org
Mirta Baselovic, Communications and Media Coordinator
baselovic@womenlobby.org
Accessibility
Accessibility modes
Epilepsy Safe Mode
Dampens color and removes blinks
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Online Dictionary
Readable Experience
Content Scaling
Default
Text Magnifier
Readable Font
Dyslexia Friendly
Highlight Titles
Highlight Links
Font Sizing
Default
Line Height
Default
Letter Spacing
Default
Left Aligned
Center Aligned
Right Aligned
Visually Pleasing Experience
Dark Contrast
Light Contrast
Monochrome
High Contrast
High Saturation
Low Saturation
Adjust Text Colors
Adjust Title Colors
Adjust Background Colors
Easy Orientation
Mute Sounds
Hide Images
Virtual Keyboard
Reading Guide
Stop Animations
Reading Mask
Highlight Hover
Highlight Focus
Big Dark Cursor
Big Light Cursor
Cognitive Reading
Navigation Keys
Voice Navigation
Accessibility Statement
dev.womenlobby.org
March 15, 2025
Compliance status
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience,
regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level.
These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible
to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific
disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML,
adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Screen-reader and keyboard navigation
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with
screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive
a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements,
alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website.
In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels;
descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups),
and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag
for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology.
To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on
as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Disability profiles supported in our website
Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments
Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over seven different coloring options.
Animations – person with epilepsy can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.
Browser and assistive technology compatibility
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Notes, comments, and feedback
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
3rd Party Cookies
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!