Failure to provide assistance to rape victim in Cologne, Germany, 15 December 2012
Reply
| Doc. 13211
| 16 May 2013
1. In reply to the Honourable Parliamentarian,
the Committee of Ministers notes that it has no remit to pronounce
on the conformity of the said facts to the provisions of the German
Penal Code, particularly Section 323 (c) thereof.
2. It would be noted, however, that the necessity of providing
assistance to victims of sexual assault or rape is covered by the
Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence
against Women and Domestic Violence.
3. The Committee of Ministers notes from the information provided
to it by the German authorities that all hospitals are required
to co-operate and to provide all the necessary medical treatment
and examinations in cases of gathering evidence for the purposes
of criminal investigations. Nevertheless, under German law, no physician
or hospital is required to carry out an abortion or provide emergency
contraception, except for medical reasons or in circumstances where
the person’s life is at risk.
4. In emergency cases such as rape, hospitals, including Catholic
hospitals coming under the Archdiocese of Cologne and the Land of
North Rhine-Westphalia, are supposed to provide the necessary assistance
in the form of emergency contraception or information for victims.
In the context of the events referred to by the Honourable Parliamentarian,
Germany has informed the Committee of Ministers that it does not
consider that the Catholic hospitals in Cologne violated Section
323 (c) of the German Penal Code because the person concerned had
already had medical treatment and was consequently not in a situation
necessitating emergency assistance.
5. Regarding the specific case reported, Germany has also pointed
out that this was an isolated fact, caused by a misunderstanding
and a lack of clarity in the hospital regulations, which has been
remedied in order to prevent any further similar incidents.
