Consent for sexual acts and rape offences: A dangerous international difformity.

The article focuses on the international legal definitions of rape, emphasizing that sex without consent is recognized as rape by major treaties such as the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (1994), the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003), and the Istanbul Convention (2014). Despite these agreements, rape laws vary globally, with many European countries defining rape based on the use of force rather than the absence of consent, unlike the United States where lack of consent is central. A 2022 Italian court case exemplifies challenges in applying consent-based definitions, as the accused was acquitted due to perceived ambiguous victim behavior and lack of clear violence. The article calls for urgent international efforts to standardize rape laws, advocating for consent to be the fundamental criterion in all national legislations.