Mechanisms to ensure victims’ rights in case of sex crimes will be improved

The Cabinet of Ministers approved a draft law aimed at ensuring the rights of victims in case of sex crimes.

To improve the legislative framework in this area and not to admit violations of the rights of victims of sexual violence at the stage of criminal investigation and of examination of cases in court, it is proposed to introduce amendments to the Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Code of Civil Procedure, Enforcement Code and Contraventions Code. Amendments involve:

- redefining the notion of rape;

- redefining the notion of victim’s consent in the case of crimes that encroach on sexual freedom and inviolability;

- reviewing the concept of non-consensual actions of a sexual nature other than rape;

- amending provisions related to the classification of sexual actions other than rape, perverse actions, actions of sexual corruption of the minor, which “are to be carried out by exhibition, indecent touches, obscene or cynical discussions with the victim regarding sexual relations.”

These incriminations come to protect not only sexual freedom and inviolability, but also the minor’s perception of sexual acts.

In order to ensure compatibility with relevant international standards, it is necessary to review some provisions of the Criminal Code. The Lanzarote Convention enshrines this issue as a rule in a separate article. Article 23 of the Lanzarote Convention aimed to criminalize specifically the acts of solicitation of children for sexual purposes by unknown persons, who have no other possibility to find out about a child and to lure him for sexual purposes than by using communication and information technologies.

The amendments also include the guarantee of a mechanism to ensure the procedural rights of victims of crimes related to sexual freedom and integrity.

The draft law in the part aimed at ensuring the rights of sex crime victims was developed based on the findings of the Report on the compatibility of national criminal standards on sex crimes with relevant international standards, prepared by the International Center La Strada in 2018 with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau.

The draft law was developed in order to harmonize criminal legislation with the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention) and with the statute of the International Criminal Court. 

The draft is to be submitted to the Parliament for adoption.