Demonstrators Converge in Brussels to Protest Against Gender Violence

A group of about a hundred women protested gender violence in Brussels on the day before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Wearing red gloves and displaying banners with QR codes containing personal messages, the demonstrators participated in "Secret Strike," an initiative led by Spanish artist Alicia Framis who described the event as embodying feminine qualities and aimed at raising awareness on both physical and verbal violence against women.

This silent demonstration, a collaborative effort with the Spanish embassy in Brussels, called attention to the alarming statistic from the United Nations that one-third of women globally face physical and sexual violence.

The protest coincided with an informal meeting of EU equality ministers in Pamplona, Spain, discussing the first European directive to address violence against women.

Framis highlighted the demonstration’s aim to protest the stalling of a proposed EU directive to define rape as sex without consent across all 27 member states.

Despite a push by the European Commission last year for legislation to standardize consent-based rape laws and establish common penalties, including actions on female genital mutilation and cyberbullying, the consensus is fractured due to differing national definitions of rape.

Human Rights Watch reports that only 13 EU states currently use consent-based definitions for rape, while others require evidence of force or threat. For example, France defines rape as a sexual act committed with violence, coercion, threat, or surprise.

The advancement of the directive is stalled as EU member states, including France and Germany, hesitate to agree on including the crime of rape in the draft's final version.