The obstacles to the Istanbul Convention are based on misconceptions. This was the message espoused by representatives of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, in turn, during a joint debate of the parliamentary committees on civil liberties and women’s rights on Monday 2 December.
The Istanbul Convention, which entered into force in August 2014, is a Council of Europe text aimed at ending violence against women. It has since been signed by all Member States, but seven of them (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom) have not yet ratified it. The same is true at the EU level, which has signed the text but has not ratified it.
“A country is free to ratify the convention or not. But it must be based on an informed debate”, said Martin Kuijer, Deputy Member for the Netherlands at the Venice Commission. He then dismantled one by one the arguments that the Convention would not be necessary, that it contains concepts that would conflict with constitutional concepts, that it would introduce legislative changes that violated a national constitution, that it would introduce a body with excessive powers and that it would contain new commitments in the field of immigration.
Mr Kuijer also strongly opposed allegations that the Istanbul Convention would require parties to recognize transgender persons or allow gay marriage.
On this point, the Commission representative highlighted the misconceptions about gender concepts, which are also used at the European level to attack Europe.
At the hearing, both the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Commission indicated that they would submit written observations to the EU Court of Justice before 23 December following the complaint lodged by Parliament (reference 1/19). This “request for an opinion” asks the judges to determine the appropriate legal basis and the EU Council’s internal procedure for the adoption of the Convention. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)