16
M.C. v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT
“It is hereby declared that in relation to an offence that consists of or includes the
doing of an act to a person without the consent of the person, any failure or omission
by that person to offer resistance to the act does not of itself constitute consent to that
act.”
99. Article 180 § 1 of the Slovenian Criminal Code reads:
“Anyone who compels a person of the same or the opposite sex to submit to sexual
intercourse by force or the threat of imminent attack on life and limb shall be
sentenced to imprisonment from one to ten years.”
100. In the United Kingdom, section 1(1) of the Sexual Offences
(Amendment) Act 1976 (referred to by the intervener) provides:
“[A] man commits rape if (a) he has unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman who
at the time of intercourse does not consent to it; and (b) at that time he knows that she
does not consent to the intercourse or is reckless as to whether she consents to it.”
B. Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe on the protection of women against violence
101. The Committee of Ministers recommends that member States adopt
and implement, in the manner most appropriate to each country's national
circumstances, a series of measures to combat violence against women.
Paragraph 35 of the appendix to the recommendation states that, in the field
of criminal law, member States should, inter alia:
“– penalise any sexual act committed against non-consenting persons, even if they
do not show signs of resistance;
...
– penalise any abuse of the position of a perpetrator, and in particular of an adult
vis-à-vis a child.”
C. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
102. In Prosecutor v. Anto Furundžija (case no. IT-95-17/1-T, judgment
of 10 December 1998), in the context of the question whether or not forced
oral sexual penetration may be characterised as rape under international law,
the Trial Chamber made the following relevant remarks about rape under
international criminal law:
“The Trial Chamber notes the unchallenged submission ... that rape is a forcible act:
this means that the act is 'accomplished by force or threats of force against the victim
or a third person, such threats being express or implied and must place the victim in
reasonable fear that he, she or a third person will be subjected to violence, detention,
duress or psychological oppression'. ...