Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) wants to tighten sexual criminal law beyond the “only yes means yes” principle to adults as well. “I am convinced that we now need to take a further step, towards a rule based on the principle ‘only yes means yes’,” Hubig told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”, according to a report published on Tuesday, 3 November. “I want to get the statutory rule for this on its way this year.”
Ten years after the introduction of the “no means no” principle, the minister no longer considers the current legal situation sufficient. In November 2016, a reform law came into force that criminalises sexual acts if they are carried out “against the recognisable will” of a person. “There are cases in which those affected are not able to express their opposing will – for example when they fall into a kind of shock paralysis,” said Hubig. “Even in such cases there can be a punishable rape. Silence does not mean consent.” Sexual acts must be consensual, the minister continued, “in my view that must also be reflected in the law”.
Only on Monday before the report, Hubig had presented a draft bill providing for adjustments to the offence of rape. She now confirmed that a further draft bill on sexual criminal law is to follow. “I will present a draft bill to the governing parliamentary groups very soon,” she told the newspaper.
In the coalition of the Union and SPD, there is already agreement on an “only yes means yes” for minors. “I take the view that we should not make age distinctions, but that we need the same rule for adults as well,” Hubig made clear. She said she already saw a lot of support for this too. “A great deal is currently moving politically on the issue of protection against violence. There is a broad conviction that we as a government can achieve a lot here – and also must achieve it. Violence is not a fate that women simply have to accept.”
