Why Consent Must Be at the Heart of International Legal Standards

Sexual violence is a global crisis, but how the law defines and prosecutes it still varies widely. At the center of this legal inconsistency is one essential principle: consent.

International human rights standards are clear. Any sexual act must involve voluntary, informed, and freely given agreement from all participants. Yet in many countries, laws continue to focus on force, threat, or physical resistance rather than the absence of consent. This outdated approach fails survivors and enables impunity for perpetrators.

A Legal System That Demands Resistance

Equality Now’s report, Sexual Violence Laws in Eurasia: Towards a Consent-Based Definition, shows how deeply embedded these outdated legal frameworks remain. In much of the Eurasia region, laws still require survivors to prove they physically resisted their attacker. In some jurisdictions, marital rape is not clearly criminalized, and laws do not cover all forms of sexual violence.

These legal standards fall short of obligations under international frameworks, including the Istanbul Convention and the recommendations of the CEDAW Committee, which call for an underlying unequivocal, voluntary agreement to sexual acts.

Why a Consent-Based Definition Matters

When the law defines rape around resistance or force, it can be used to place the burden on the survivor to justify any lack of physical resistance, or to produce evidence of additional physical harm. This not only distorts the reality of sexual violence, but it also discourages survivors from coming forward and contributes to low prosecution and conviction rates.

Laws based on true, voluntary consent shift this dynamic. They:

• Promote equality between the parties
• Centre the experience of the survivor, rather than assumptions about how they should behave
• Recognise a broader range of coercive circumstances
• Align legal systems with human rights standards that prioritise bodily autonomy and dignity

Aligning Law with Reality

Legal reform is just one part of the solution, but it is a vital starting point. As the Eurasia report highlights, definitions of rape must move away from archaic notions of violence and resistance, and instead reflect the full reality of sexual violence as experienced by women and girls.

This includes recognising the role of coercion, dependency, and fear. It also means ensuring that the law is inclusive and accessible for all survivors, including those from marginalised communities.

Justice Starts With Consent

True and voluntary consent cannot be optional. It cannot be assumed. And it must be at the center of how the law understands sexual violence.

At Equality Now, we call on governments, legal officials, and international bodies to adopt clear and unequivocal legal definitions of rape that prioritize the willingness of both parties to consent to sex, free from coercion, which meets international standards and upholds the rights of all survivors; and to help put an end to the stigmatization of rape and the culture of blaming survivors, rather looking at all the evidence,  and fully evaluating the context of sexual violence cases.