On Tuesday 14 June, the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) published an annual report on child custody, visitation and domestic violence.
Even if the States Parties to the Istanbul Convention, which GREVIO is responsible for monitoring, have taken “satisfactory” measures, “there is still a long way to go”, says this 2021 report, which regrets that implementation is “too inconsistent”.
Among the shortcomings, GREVIO notes the lack of protection and support for children who witness domestic violence, the insufficient protection of domestic violence victims and their children, the failure to ensure safe supervised visits, and the use of “parental alienation” as a means to minimise evidence of domestic violence in civil proceedings. Defined as a process by which one parent influences the child to unjustifiably reject the other parent, the notion of “parental alienation” is now being challenged as a “syndrome” or “mental disorder” by the scientific community, says GREVIO, which notes its removal from the key words in the draft “International Classification of Diseases”, published by the WHO in February 2020.
The Istanbul Convention, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2021, has been signed and ratified by 34 states.
A further 10 states are in the process of signing.
Turkey withdrew in 2021, during which time progress was made towards ratification, notably in Moldova, Ukraine and Latvia.
Link to the GREVIO report: https://aeur.eu/f/238 (Véronique Leblanc)