How the EU does(n’t) fight gender-based violence
By Anna-Magdalena Glockzin, 5 minutes.
In July 2019, an 18-year-old British woman went to the Cypriot police, and told them, that she had been raped by a group of 12 Israeli men in Ayia Nap. The Cypriot authorities questioned her for hours without legal assistance, which subsequently led her to withdraw these allegations. The woman later stated that she was pressured to comply and had to sign a waiver, which was drafted by Cypriot detectives. In the following proceedings, the Cypriot authorities found her guilty of lying about the gang rape attack, convicted her of causing public mischief, and issued a suspended sentence of four months. With the help of the human rights group Justice Abroad, the woman appealed to the Court of final instance, the Supreme Court of Cyprus, which overturned the verdict. It found that the woman did not receive a fair trial. The authorities, however, never admitted to any wrongdoings. This case caused outrage among women’s rights activists, who argued that the woman was treated as the offender rather than the victim.
The European Court of Human Rights intervenes
To answer this public outrage and following the Cypriot attorney general’s decline to reopen the investigations, the case got referred to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). On the 27th of February 2025, the ECtHR concluded that the Cypriot authorities mishandled the case. The Court held that the authorities “failed in their obligation to effectively investigate the applicant’s complaint of rape and to adopt a victim-sensitive approach when doing so.” In particular, it stated that the Cypriot authorities breached article 3 (lack of effective investigation) and article 8 (the right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Moreover, the ruling highlighted that “neither the chief investigator nor the counsel for the Attorney General […] engaged in any meaningful examination of the evidence which could signify a lack of consent.” Hence, this case unveils how deeply embedded prejudices against rape victims are in the (Cypriot) law enforcement system. Significantly, this discrimination is rooted in the dominant presence of patriarchal structures and practices, like victim-blaming. Furthermore, it demonstrates the importance of procedural protection for victims of gender-based violence. Shifting the focus to the level of the European Union (EU), this raises the following questions: How does EU legislation aim to protect women, girls and other marginalized groups from sexual violence? And where does it fall short?
Protest to end violence against women
By Fmtechgirl - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46937216
Legislation concerning gender-based violence in the European Union
To tackle the problem of gender-based violence in the EU, the European Commission proposed a Directive in March 2022. Based on this initiative, the European Parliament approved the EU Directive 2024/1385 on combating violence against women and domestic violence, which was adopted by the Council in May 2024. Member States are bound to fully implement the Directive by June 2027. Its articles define different forms of violence (online and offline) against women as crimes. These include female genital mutilation and forced marriage, non-consensual sharing of intimate pictures, cyber stalking, cyber harassment and incitement to hatred, and violence on the ground of gender. Furthermore, the Directive lays out specific measures to protect and support victims of gender-based violence as well as providing and enhancing access to justice. Lastly, it obliges Member States to set forth preventive measures, particularly those which aim to prevent rape and emphasize consent in sexual relationships.
Furthermore, in 2017, the Union joined the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, which went into force in 2023. It obliges members to implement laws, policies and support services to fight violence against women and girls. Moreover, the Commission’s Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, prioritizes combating gender-based violence, which Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reiterated in her letter to the new Commissioner for Equality for a gender equality strategy post-2025. Lastly, the EU dedicated the 25th November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, on which the European Commission and the EU High Representative of Foreign Affairs hold a speech together.
There is still room for improvement
However, several hurdles in the EU’s fight against gender-based violence persist to this day. For instance, the collection of statistical data does not cover all 27 Member States. The EU survey on gender-based violence collects only data from 18 EU countries. For the remaining countries, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) coordinate the data collection. In November 2024, Eurostat, EIGE and FRA published a report together for the first time, combining the data and providing an overview of women’s experiences with regards to violence in the whole of the EU. Nonetheless, the non-cohesiveness of the data continues to be a problem as well as the limited scope of the EU survey.
Furthermore, neither the Directive mentioned above nor any other EU document establishes an EU-wide (consent-based) definition of “rape” and “sexual assault”, exacerbating problems of discriminatory treatment in judicial processes and impunity of perpetrators. While the different criminal codes of the Member States do not provide a common definition of these crimes, it should and must not serve as an excuse for failing to establish respective legal definitions at the EU level. Gisèle Pelicot’s deeply shocking case in France and the case of the British woman in Cyprus, among many others, reveal that the fight against gender-based violence is far from over. This underscores the urgent need to induce fundamental and lasting change in society, policymaking, legislation and judicial processes, ensuring the protection and equality of women and girls.
