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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Ashifa Kassam European community affairs correspondent

‘Only yes means yes’: MEPs call for EU to adopt consent-based definition of rape

The European parliament building in Strasbourg
A common definition would force all members to align with international standards, said one MEP. Photograph: Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP/Getty Images

The European parliament has called on the EU to draw up a standardised consent-based definition of rape, in what legislators described as a crucial step towards addressing the patchwork of laws, some of them insufficient, that now exist across the bloc.

On Tuesday, 447 of the parliament’s 720 MEPs voted to approve a report calling for a common definition of rape, centred on “only yes means yes”, prompting a loud round of applause in the chamber in Strasbourg.

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