Brussels, 12/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - A new Council of Europe (CoE) convention on the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence was signed by 13 countries at the 121st session of the CoE meeting of foreign ministers in Istanbul on Wednesday 11 May. Non-member states of the Council of Europe and the European Union can also sign up.
This new flagship treaty is the first legally binding international instrument to put in place a complete framework to protect women against all forms of violence, and to prevent, prosecute and eliminate domestic violence. It also establishes an international mechanism to monitor how it is implemented at national level.
The 13 signatory countries are Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. The Committee of Ministers brings together the foreign ministers of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. On 11 May, Ukraine took over the presidency of the Committee of Ministers for the forthcoming six months. (G.B./transl.rt)