Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: sexual consent

  • Işıl Kurnaz

From Resistance to Silence to Consent: The ECtHR and the PACE in the Shaping of a European Consent Standard

August 14, 2026

By Işıl Kurnaz From the 2003 decision in M.C. v. Bulgaria to the January 2026 decision in Z v. Iceland, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has been applying its consent-based approach to sexual violence cases with increasing rigour. Consequently, it is no longer merely how a Member State defines sexual violence that shapes […]