M.C. v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT 23 124. In the applicant's case – the Government argued – after a careful and impartial investigation, the authorities had not found it established, to the level of proof necessary to secure a criminal conviction, that rape had been committed. On the other hand, it was open to the applicant to submit a civil action for damages against the alleged perpetrators. She would be required to prove the unlawfulness of the perpetrators' acts, but no proof of mens rea would be necessary. 125. Finally, the Government submitted that the applicant had had effective criminal and civil remedies at her disposal, as required by Article 13 of the Convention. 3. Submissions by Interights (a) General submissions 126. The intervener stated that over the past two decades the traditional definition of rape had undergone reform in civil and common law jurisdictions and in international law. This was the result of the evolving understanding of the nature of the offence and the manner in which it was experienced by the victim. Research had demonstrated that women, and more particularly minors, often did not physically resist rape either because they were physically unable to do so through paralysing fear, or because they were seeking to protect themselves against the increasing level of force being used against them. 127. Interights submitted that the reform of rape law reflected a shift from a “historical approach” to the “equality approach” to the question of consent. Rape was an offence against women's autonomy and its essential element was lack of consent. A central concern underlying reforms in rape law had been to clarify that it was not necessary to establish that the accused had overcome the victim's physical resistance in order to prove lack of consent. 128. That tendency had been reflected in developments in international criminal law. In particular, the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia had characterised as rape sexual penetration “in circumstances which are coercive” or committed through “coercion or force or threat of force”. That approach had also been taken in the Statute of the International Criminal Court and its draft Rules. (b) Submissions on the law of several countries 129. Interights submitted copies of reports on the relevant law of several European and non-European countries, prepared by legal scholars or professionals, or by research assistants. The information and assessments contained therein may be summarised as follows.