HRC 47: Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women. Nordic Baltic statement delivered by: H.E. Ms Anna Jardfelt, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the UN in Geneva
28 JUN 2021
Madam President,
I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and my own country Sweden.
First of all, let me express our countries’ firm commitment to achieving gender equality, at home and globally. Preventing and eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, including sexual and gender-based violence, online and offline, is a prerequisite for successfully doing so. We thank the Special Rapporteur for her report on rape as a grave, systematic and widespread human rights violation, a crime and a manifestation of gender-based violence against women and girls, and its prevention.
Madam Special Rapporteur,
In your report, you conclude that in the past 30 years, the explicit inclusion of lack of consent has emerged as the central and constitutive element of the definition of rape. In line with the Istanbul Convention, you recommend States to, inter alia, incorporate international human rights standards on rape into their national laws, and to explicitly include lack of consent as the basis for the legal definition of rape.
Beyond legislation, what concrete measures would you recommend States to take in order to promote a culture of consent, including among young persons?
I thank you.