EU member countries and lawmakers reached an agreement on the bloc’s first rules to tackle violence against women, the European Parliament and officials said.
The law seeks to protect women in the 27-nation European Union from gender-based violence, forced marriages, female genital mutilation and online harassment.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, first proposed the major legislation on March 8, 2022, to mark International Women’s Day.
The text criminalises cyberstalking, cyberharassment and cyber incitement to hatred or violence across the European Union. It does not, however, include a common definition of rape, which proved to be the most controversial point in negotiations.
Although the text does not contain a definition of rape, member states will aim to raise awareness that non-consensual sex is considered a criminal offence, the parliament said in a statement.
The commission will have to report every five years on whether the rules need to be updated, it added.
