ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an overview and a critical assessment of the relevant provisions of the Istanbul Convention on sexual offences. It discusses these provisions in relation to the Explanatory Report of the Convention, to relevant case law of European Court of Human Rights and to the country monitoring carried out by the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO). In addition to the GREVIO reports that have been completed so far, examples from Finland and Sweden are used to articulate topical issues. In relation to the Istanbul Convention, the chapter investigates several themes such as the lack and validity of consent to sexual intercourse, the sexual nature of sexual acts, vulnerability, marital rape, sentencing and sexual harassment. Eventually, the chapter asks to what extent the Istanbul Convention holds potential for challenging the ways we understand sexuality in the framework of criminal law.
