Women's Movement of Georgia demands amendments to criminal article on rape
The Women’s Movement of Georgia has addressed the parliament with an open letter, demanding the country’s highest legislative body clarify the definition of what constitutes rape in the Criminal Code, in order ‘to put an end to impunity for sexual crimes.’
In Article 137 of the Istanbul Convention, rape is defined as “sexual intercourse without the consent of the victim”.
“But the current version of this article and the accepted practice considers beatings and threats to be evidence of rape.
“It turns out that if a woman is raped, this is not enough, you still need her to get beaten up to believe that the rape took place”, says Baia Pataraia, one of the leaders of the Women’s Movement.
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The authors of the open letter propose that consent be defined as free and explicit, and “its absence should be confirmed by examining the accompanying circumstances.”
The letter stresses that the legislation against violence against women in Georgia has significantly improved in recent years. However, sexual violence continues to go unpunished, and victims’ access to a fair trial is limited.
The reason for this, the Women’s Movement says, is problematic legislation and practice in this area, which do not comply with the norms of international law.
