After several rounds of back and forth between the two chambers of Switzerland’s parliament, Swiss legislators have agreed on a new legal definition of rape.
The National Council, the lower house of the Swiss Federal Assembly, agreed on Thursday by 118 votes to 65 with the wording passed by the Council of States, the upper house. The new definition is based on the concept of refusal, and also takes the state of shock into account.
In Switzerland, rape has until now been defined as the coercion of a female person into a sexual act, committed with the sexual organs, and therefore excluding the use of an object or any other part of the body. For the Swiss legislator, rape could not be committed by a man on another man. That was another offence, “sexual coercion.”
While the outdated nature of this definition was not challenged in the political ranks, the scope of the revision divided the Houses of Parliament.
The senators wanted to base themselves on refusal (i.e. “no means no”), while the deputies preferred the option of consent (“only a yes is a yes”) in order to favour the victim’s will.
In the end, it was a third, hybrid formulation that enabled a consensus to be reached. It is based on refusal, but explicitly mentions the state of shock, which paralyses the victim and prevents him or her from reacting.
“This wording makes it possible to cover the implicit no,” said Patricia von Falkenstein, a member of the Legal Affairs Committee.
The National Council also agreed with the Council of States on the minimum penalty for rape with coercion, set at one year in prison.
