Forging a rape legislation In Poland. Rape in Polish law: law and practice from the perspective of the Istanbul Convention

• In Event: Forging criminalisation of gender-based violence

Abstract

Statutory components of the offence known as “rape” might differs depending on legislation. Yet for the countries that ratified Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence the characteristic and attributes of that crime are included in the art. 36 of that Convention (hereinafter: Istanbul Convention, CETS210 or the Convention). The claim in this chapter is that the Polish Criminal law and the practice that follows about the rape definition is not congruent with the Convention requirements. The systemic place and framing of the crime of rape in the Criminal Code and the Anti-Violence Convention deserves attention because art. 36 of CETS210 is an integral part of the Anti-Violence Convention, just as art. 197 of the Criminal Code is an integral part of the Criminal Code. Both the Anti-Violence Convention and the Penal Code are integral parts of the Polish legal order.

Author

• Monika S. Płatek, Law Faculty, Warsaw University