“Polish parliamentarians should fulfil their responsibility to hold the government accountable for implementing the standards they have subscribed to” by ratifying the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention, said Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo, PACE rapporteur on violence against women, and Pieter Omtzigt and Azadeh Rojhan Gustafsson, co-rapporteurs on Poland's monitoring procedure.
In a Joint Declaration issued on Monday evening, all four stressed the importance of Parliament as the place where “myths and inaccurate interpretations of the Istanbul Convention should be dispelled”. “We call on members of the Polish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly to play their vital role as supporters of human rights, equality and non-discrimination and to launch an initiative to hold a parliamentary hearing, both at the Sejm (lower house of Poland’s parliament - editor's note) and in the Senate, on the scope and purpose of the Istanbul Convention as outlined in the Handbook for Parliamentarians” (https://bit.ly/32XXtP7 ), they conclude, stating that PACE “stands ready to support and contribute to such an initiative”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)