Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence


The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is a human rights treaty of the Council of Europe against violence against women and domestic violence which was opened for signature on 11 May 2011, in Istanbul, Turkey. The convention aims at prevention of violence, victim protection and to end the impunity of perpetrators. As of March 2019, it has been signed by 45 countries and the European Union. On 12 March 2012, Turkey became the first country to ratify the Convention, followed by 33 other countries from 2013 to 2019. The Convention came into force on 1 August 2014.

History

The Council of Europe has undertaken a series of initiatives to promote the protection of women against violence since the 1990s. In particular, these initiatives have resulted in the adoption, in 2002, of the Council of Europe Recommendation Rec5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence, and the running of a Europe-wide campaign, from 2006–2008, to combat violence against women, including domestic violence. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has also taken a firm political stance against all forms of violence against women. It has adopted a number of resolutions and recommendations calling for legally-binding standards on preventing, protecting against and prosecuting the most severe and widespread forms of gender-based violence.
National reports, studies and surveys revealed the magnitude of the problem in Europe. The campaign in particular showed a large variation in Europe of national responses to violence against women and domestic violence. Thus the need for harmonized legal standards to ensure that victims benefit from the same level of protection everywhere in Europe became apparent. The Ministers of Justice of Council of Europe member states began discussing the need to step up protection from domestic violence, in particular intimate partner violence.
The Council of Europe decided it was necessary to set comprehensive standards to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence. In December 2008, the Committee of Ministers set up an expert group mandated to prepare a draft convention in this field. Over the course of just over two years, this group, called the CAHVIO, developed a draft text. During the later stage of drafting of the convention, UK, Italy, Russia, and the Holy See proposed several amendments to limit the requirements provided by the Convention. These amendments were criticized by Amnesty International. The final draft of the convention was produced in December 2010.

Adoption, signature and ratification

General process

The convention was adopted by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on 7 April 2011. It opened for signature on 11 May 2011 on the occasion of the 121st Session of the Committee of Ministers in Istanbul. It entered into force following 10 ratifications, eight of which were required to be member states of the Council of Europe. As of December 2015, the convention was signed by 39 states, followed by ratification of the minimum eight Council of Europe states: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia, and Turkey. Later that year it was ratified by Andorra, Denmark, France, Malta, Monaco, Spain, and Sweden. In 2015 it was ratified also by Slovenia, Finland, Poland and the Netherlands, and in 2016 by San Marino, Belgium and Romania; in 2017 by Georgia, Norway, Germany, Estonia, Cyprus and Switzerland, in 2018 by Croatia, Macedonia, Iceland, Greece and Luxembourg, and in 2019 by Republic of Ireland. On 13 June 2017, European Commissioner Věra Jourová signed the Istanbul Convention on behalf of the European Union. States that have ratified the Convention are legally bound by its provisions once it enters into force.
urging the EU to accede the Convention
and others urging Croatia not to ratify the Convention
SignatorySignatureRatificationEntry into force
19/12/201104/02/201301/08/2014
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11/05/201114/11/201301/08/2014
11/09/201214/03/201601/07/2016
08/03/201307/11/201301/08/2014
22/01/201312/06/201801/10/2018
16/06/201510/11/201701/03/2018
11/10/201323/04/201401/08/2014
02/12/201426/10/201701/02/2018
11/05/201117/04/201501/08/2015
11/05/201104/07/201401/11/2014
19/06/201419/05/201701/09/2017
11/05/201112/10/201701/02/2018
11/05/201118/06/201801/10/2018
11/05/201126/04/201801/08/2018
05/11/201508/03/201901/07/2019
27/09/201210/09/201301/08/2014
11/05/201107/08/201801/12/2018
21/05/201229/07/201401/11/2014
20/09/201207/10/201401/02/2015
11/05/201122/04/201301/08/2014
14/11/201218/11/201501/03/2016
08/07/201123/03/201801/07/2018
07/07/201105/07/201701/11/2017
18/12/201227/04/201501/08/2015
11/05/201105/02/201301/08/2014
27/06/201423/05/201601/09/2016
30/04/201428/01/201601/05/2016
04/04/201221/11/201301/08/2014
08/09/201105/02/201501/06/2015
11/05/201110/04/201401/08/2014
11/05/201101/07/201401/11/2014
11/09/201314/12/201701/04/2018
11/05/201114/03/201201/08/2014

Rejection by the Constitutional Court of Bulgaria

In January 2018, the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria adopted a proposal to the Parliament to ratify the convention. The decision was quickly condemned by some government ministers, members of parliament, media groups and civic organisations, who suggested that the convention would eventually lead to a formal recognition of a third gender and same-sex marriage. After widespread backlash, the third Borisov Government postponed the ratification and transferred the decision to the Constitutional Court, which would rule whether it would be legal. President Rumen Radev, an opponent of the ratification, hailed the postponement as a "triumph of common sense", stating that the convention is ambiguous and that domestic violence can only be addressed by adequate Bulgarian laws and improved law enforcement.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov cited the isolation of his GERB party, which was not supported even by its coalition partner, the far-right United Patriots. Borisov expressed surprise that the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party was firmly against the convention as well, and suggested that the Socialists are opposing the European Union altogether. The BSP declared itself firmly against the convention, causing a rift between the Party of European Socialists and the BSP's new political line under Korneliya Ninova. According to the Socialists' "Vision for Bulgaria" programme, the convention is "not meant to protect women. The convention is against fundamental values of European civilisation".
On 27 July 2018, the Constitutional Court pronounced Resolution No 13 on Constitutional Case No. 3/2018 stating that "the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, does not comply with the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria". In its decision, the Court identified a relation between previous Council of Europe documents against domestic violence and the expansion of transgender rights. According to the Constitutional Court, the convention offers a binary interpretation of gender as both a biological and social category, which contradicts the constitution of Bulgaria, where humans are irrevocably defined as biologically male or female, with equal standing as citizens. The convention therefore lays formal ground to promote non-biological definitions of gender, which are deemed unconstitutional.
Women's rights groups were outraged by the Bulgarian government's decision not to ratify the Istanbul Convention. In November 2018, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, hundreds of people demonstrated in the centre of Sofia against violence against women under the motto #YouAreNotAlone, demanding effective action from the institutions including the creation of prevention programmes and shelters for victims. The organisers, the Bulgarian Fond for Women, cited the fact that in the first eleven months of 2018, almost 30 women were killed in Bulgaria, most of them by their partners.

Rejection by the National Council of Slovakia

Conservative, christian democratic, Roman Catholic, nationalist and far-right groups and parties in Slovakia have been opposed to the country ratifying the Convention, especially because of its clauses concerning LGBT rights, which they portrayed as "extreme liberalism" that corrodes "traditional values" they felt needed to be protected. On 29 March 2019, one day before the 2019 Slovak presidential election, nationalist politicians forced through a parliamentary resolution asking Slovakia’s government not to ratify the Istanbul Convention, in an effort to mobilise conservative voters to vote for Maroš Šefčovič instead of the progressive candidate Zuzana Čaputová, who had been supporting LGBT rights and women's right to abortion. Although Čaputová won the election and became Slovakia's first female president, conservative groups stepped up their campaign to prevent Slovakia from ratifying the Convention and restricting access to abortion in the following months. On 25 February 2020, the Parliament of Slovakia, the National Council, rejected the Convention at an extraordinary session by a vote of 17–96. Following the decision of Parliament, President Zuzana Čaputová sent a letter to the Council of Europe on 6 March 2020, informing it that the Slovak Republic could not become a party to the Istanbul Convention. Presidential spokesperson Martin Strizinec commented: "Since the necessary condition to ratify the convention is the consent of Parliament, but this hasn't happened, this convention won't be ratified by the president," adding that Čaputová repeatedly stated that if Parliament decided on the document in a constitutionally prescribed manner, she would respect the will of its members.

Poland

In July 2020 Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro declared he will begin preparing the formal process to withdraw from the treaty. He said that the treaty is harmful because it requires that schools teach children about gender in an ideological way and de-emphasizes biological sex. In 2012, when in opposition, Ziobro had referred to the treaty as "an invention, a feminist creation aimed at justifying gay ideology". In Warsaw, hundreds of people demonstrated against the withdrawal. The announcement was made soon after the European Union relaxed the link between funding and the rule of law, under pressure from Poland and Hungary.

Contents

Main provisions

The Istanbul Convention is the first legally-binding instrument which "creates a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combat violence against women" and is focused on preventing domestic violence, protecting victims and prosecuting accused offenders.
It characterizes violence against women as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination. Countries should exercise due diligence when preventing violence, protecting victims and prosecuting perpetrators. The Convention also contains a definition of gender: for the purpose of the Convention gender is defined in Article 3 as "the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men". Moreover, the treaty establishes a series of offences characterized as violence against women. States which ratify the Convention must criminalize several offences, including: psychological violence ; stalking ; physical violence ; sexual violence, including rape, explicitly covering all engagement in non-consensual acts of a sexual nature with a person, forced marriage ; female genital mutilation, forced abortion and forced sterilisation. The Convention states that sexual harassment must be subject to "criminal or other legal sanction". The Convention also includes an article targeting crimes committed in the name of so-called "honour".

Structure

The convention contains 81 articles separated into 12 chapters. Its structure follows the structure of the Council of Europe's most recent conventions. The structure of the instrument is based on the “four Ps”: Prevention, Protection and support of victims, Prosecution of offenders and Integrated Policies. Each area foresees a series of specific measures. The Convention also establishes obligations in relation to the collection of data and supporting research in the field of violence against women.
The preamble recalls the European Convention on Human Rights, European Social Charter and Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings as well as international human rights treaties by United Nations and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In Article 2, this Convention indicates that the provisions shall apply in time of peace and also in situations of armed conflicts in violence against women and domestic violence. Article 3 defines key terms:
Article 4 prohibits several types of discrimination stating: The implementation of the provisions of this Convention by the Parties, in particular measure to protect the rights of victims, shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, gender, race, colour, language political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, state of health, disability, marital status, migrant or refugee status, or other status.

Monitoring mechanism GREVIO

The convention mandates an independent expert body, the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, with monitoring the implementation of the convention. Its members are elected by the state parties; depending on the number of state parties the body consists of between ten and fifteen members.
The first ten members were elected in 2014: President Feride Acar, First Vice-President Marceline Naudi, Second Vice-President Simona Lanzoni, and members Biljana Brankovic, Françoise Brie, Gemma Gallego, Helena Leitao, Rosa Logar, Iris Luarasi and Vesna Ratkovic.
Five additional members were elected in 2018: Per Arne Håkansson, Sabine Kräuter-Stockton, Vladimer Mkervalishvili, Rachel Eapen Paul and Aleid van den Brink.

Accusations of public manipulation against the Convention

Supporters of the Convention have accused its opponents of misrepresenting the scope of the Convention in order to manipulate public opinion against the Convention. In a press release in November 2018, the Council of Europe stated that "Despite its clearly stated aims, several religious and ultra conservative groups have been spreading false narratives about the Istanbul Convention". The release stated that the convention does not seek to impose a certain lifestyle or interfere with personal organization of private life; instead it only seeks to prevent violence against women and domestic violence. The release states that "the convention is certainly not about ending sexual differences between women and men. Nowhere does the convention ever imply that women and men are or should be “the same”" and that "the convention does not seek to regulate family life and/or family structures: it neither contains a definition of “family” nor does it promote a particular type of family setting."