On the eve of the tenth anniversary of its Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the ‘Istanbul Convention’), the Council of Europe can note the ratification decision adopted by the Liechtenstein Parliament by a majority of 23 votes out of 25. The decision was announced on the morning of Saturday 8 May.
The country will thus become the 34th State Party to the Convention, which was opened for signature on 11 May 2011 in Istanbul. This figure will fall to 33 after the exit of Turkey, which was announced in March but is to be made official on 1 July.
As stated by Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the UK is also in the process of ratification. An announcement is expected later this year.
The EU signed the Convention in June 2017, and in November 2019 a legislative resolution of the European Parliament called for its ratification (500 votes in favour, 91 against, 50 abstentions). No progress has been made thus far, since the Convention is under attack in countries such as Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, where a tendentious interpretation of the notion of ‘gender’ is turning it into a threat to the ‘traditional family’.
The Council of Europe has created a platform on its website dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the Istanbul Convention, and will hold an online conference on its implementation and promotion tomorrow.
Link to the website: https://bit.ly/3tA12oi (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)