Sexual violence against men and boys
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 3 October 2025
(36th sitting) (see Doc. 16250,
report of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, rapporteur:
Mr Edmunds Cepurītis). Text adopted by
the Assembly on 3 October 2025 (36th sitting).
1. Sexual violence against men and
boys is a reality but also a hidden phenomenon which must be prevented
and combated, giving priority to the needs of all victims/survivors
and without detracting attention or funding from addressing gender-based
violence against women and girls.
2. There is a lack of comprehensive and disaggregated data on
sexual violence against men and boys in all their diversity in our
member States, as well as limited research, which is partly due
to under-reporting.
3. While all victims/survivors of sexual violence share the difficulties
of facing stigma, negative attitudes and victim blaming, the specificities
of violence against men and boys need to be tackled, including different perceptions
of masculinity and sexuality.
4. Sexual violence against men and boys takes place in many different
places and contexts: at home and within the closest circles, in
educational and religious settings, during sports activities, in
a migration context, in closed institutions and in conflict-related
and humanitarian settings, among others. Measures to prevent this violence,
report it and prosecute the perpetrators, and support victims, need
to be applied and adapted to the different contexts.
5. Men and boys in all their diversity can be subjected to sexual
violence regardless of age, sexual orientation, gender identity
and expression, sex characteristics, migration status, disability,
origin or any other characteristic. All measures to prevent and
combat such violence against men and boys, and to protect victims/survivors,
should be applied without discrimination on any ground and by adopting
an intersectional approach.
6. Many men and boys victims/survivors of sexual violence need
a long time to address the feelings of shame, fear and isolation,
which leads to non-reporting or to reporting many years after the
sexual violence took place. This is also due to the lack of awareness
and knowledge of victims/survivors about their rights, reporting
mechanisms and support services, as well as a lack of trust in the
justice system more broadly.
7. Under-reporting leads to high levels of impunity, which is
compounded by the different statutes of limitations for sexual offences
against children depending on the country. It is therefore critical
to raise awareness about sexual violence against men and boys and
to advocate for the abolition of statutes of limitations.
8. Engaging with men and boys victims/survivors of sexual violence
should be mainstreamed across all relevant activities and policy-making
processes, so that their experiences are taken into account in the development
and review of relevant policies and laws.
9. Studies indicate that the physical and mental health consequences
of surviving sexual violence can include anxiety, depression and
suicidal tendencies, which need to be addressed as public health
issues in national policies and strategies. Official recognition
of the sexual violence victims/survivors have suffered is an important
part of the healing process. This can also help them to recover
and reclaim their lives after the trauma of sexual violence by confirming
that they are never responsible.
10. The Parliamentary Assembly underlines the need to meet the
targets set out in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
by 2030, including those under Goal 3 (good health and well-being),
Goal 5 (gender equality) and Goal 16 (peace, justice and strong
institutions).
11. The Assembly refers to its
Resolution 2533 (2024) “Child abuse
in institutions in Europe” and its
Resolution 2547 (2024) “The protection
of children against online violence” as regards preventing and combating
sexual violence against boys.
12. It further refers to its
Resolution 2607 (2025) “Protecting
human rights in and through sport: obligations and shared responsibilities”
and draws attention to the widespread and systemic abuse of children
and vulnerable adults in sport, including sexual abuse, and the
lack of victim-centred reporting mechanisms and trauma-informed
redress systems.
13. The Assembly welcomes the work carried out over the years
by the Lanzarote Committee, which oversees the implementation of
the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against
Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS No. 201, the “Lanzarote
Convention”).
14. It further underlines that the Council of Europe Convention
on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic
Violence (CETS No. 210, the “Istanbul Convention”) encourages parties
to apply this convention to all victims of domestic violence.
15. The Assembly looks forward to the completion of the draft
recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member States on
age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education to strengthen
responses for, inter alia,
preventing and combating violence against children, as an additional
tool to address sexual violence against boys and girls. It also
welcomes the forthcoming adoption by the Committee of Ministers
of the first legal instrument on the equality of rights of intersex
persons.
16. The Assembly calls on the member and observer States of the
Council of Europe and States whose parliaments enjoy observer or
partner for democracy status with the Assembly:
16.1 with regard to data collection
and research, to:
16.1.1 support disaggregated data collection,
through official statistics and surveys, from relevant authorities
and institutions in different settings and, where appropriate, directly
from men and boys victims/survivors themselves, about experiences
and reported cases of sexual violence;
16.1.2 encourage and support research into the specificities
of sexual violence against men and boys in all their diversity,
in order to successfully address the underlying factors that fuel
it and barriers to reporting;
16.1.3 conduct research on what does and does not work well to
prevent sexual violence against men and boys in various contexts,
in co-operation with specialised organisations;
16.1.4 disseminate the data and research results in accessible
formats, in order to raise awareness and to guide evidence-based
policy making;
16.2 with regard to awareness raising and other prevention
measures, to:
16.2.1 conduct awareness-raising and information
campaigns about sexual violence against men and boys, targeting
different settings and age groups and including accessible information on
the rights of victims/survivors, reporting mechanisms and support
services;
16.2.2 develop measures to counter and challenge the “social
discourse” and cultural assumptions regarding male behaviour, the
roles and power dynamics that contribute to sexual violence against
men and boys, and their stigmatisation, including harmful masculinities, structural
homophobia and traditional gendered roles;
16.2.3 implement prevention programmes and measures by working, inter alia, with youth, women’s
rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI)
organisations, focusing on challenging and transforming gender norms
to build more gender-equal societies for the future;
16.2.4 make available preventive intervention programmes and
measures to persons prosecuted and/or convicted for sexual violence
against children, as well as to children who have committed sexual
offences, in accordance with the Lanzarote Convention;
16.2.5 implement age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education
to provide boys with the knowledge and language to protect themselves
and to respect the boundaries of others, and to address bodily integrity
and sexual consent in education and outreach measures;
16.3 with regard to detecting and reporting cases of sexual
violence in different settings, to:
16.3.1 create an enabling
environment for professionals who work with children to report cases of
sexual violence, and consider introducing, for certain jobs or professions,
mandatory reporting of sexual violence to the relevant authorities;
16.3.2 set up children-centred and trauma-informed safeguards
and reporting mechanisms in settings where children and young men
are present, such as schools, extracurricular facilities, sports
clubs, churches and online platforms;
16.3.3 ensure that systems for reporting sexual violence against
men and boys are well publicised and tackle barriers that prevent
victims/survivors from reporting such violence;
16.3.4 tackle systemic weaknesses in organisations and institutions
which leave men and boys vulnerable to sexual violence, exposed
to harm or denied access to justice;
16.4 with regard to legal and policy measures, to:
16.4.1 include
men and boys victims/survivors of sexual violence and their specific
needs in national laws and policies to prevent and combat sexual
violence, and consider linking national strategies on gender-based
violence with LGBTI strategies;
16.4.2 review relevant criminal law definitions of sexual violence,
including rape, and amend them as necessary, to base them on the
principle of lack of consent and include men as possible victims;
16.4.3 consider abolishing the statute of limitations for crimes
related to sexual violence against children;
16.4.4 apply the Istanbul Convention to men and boys victims
of domestic violence, in line with its Article 2.2;
16.4.5 ban so-called “conversion” or “reintegrative” therapies,
and conversion practices, aimed at changing or suppressing an individual’s
sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, as they can
amount to sexual violence;
16.4.6 implement integrated child protection systems that promote
co-ordination among the health, education, social protection, online
support and justice sectors, and which address the connections between
online and offline sexual violence;
16.4.7 monitor and evaluate laws, policies and measures aimed
at preventing and responding to sexual violence against men and
boys, in order to make informed decisions about future steps;
16.4.8 take measures to provide full reparation to men and boys
victims/survivors of sexual violence;
16.5 with regard to providing support to men and boys victims/survivors
of sexual violence, to:
16.5.1 establish accessible and
country-wide specialised and gender-sensitive support services,
catering to the needs of men and boys victims/survivors of sexual
violence without discrimination on any ground and taking into account
the specific needs of GBTI men, in co-operation with relevant civil
society organisations;
16.5.2 provide age-appropriate and quality support services,
including telephone helplines, sexual violence referral centres,
healthcare, psychosocial support, legal assistance, shelters, online
counselling, as well as group and peer-to-peer counselling;
16.5.3 help and assist child victims of sexual violence in a
non-traumatising environment, including through the application
of the Barnahus model;
16.5.4 provide training to relevant professionals, such as law
enforcement, healthcare, educators and social workers, to raise
their awareness about the experiences and needs of men and boys
victims/survivors of sexual violence, and to prevent secondary victimisation:
the Council of Europe Programme on Human Rights Education for Legal
Professionals (HELP) on the protection of children against sexual
exploitation and sexual abuse can be a useful tool in this respect;
16.6 with regard to the participation of men and boys victims/survivors
of sexual violence in the development of measures that affect them,
to:
16.6.1 involve and consult men and boys victims/survivors
of sexual violence, and the organisations representing them, when
developing such measures;
16.6.2 apply the “Guidelines for policy makers on engaging with
victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse
– ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’”, published by the Council of Europe,
to support the participation of victims/survivors in policy making;
16.6.3 consider adopting the participatory “survivors’ council”
model to involve victims/survivors of sexual violence in the development
of policy and measures.
17. The Assembly invites the Lanzarote Committee to consider dedicating
an upcoming Day for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation
and Sexual Abuse, held on 18 November each year, to the prevention
and combating of sexual violence against boys in all their diversity.
