On Thursday 6 November, the European Commission presented its baseline report on the implementation of the Istanbul Convention to MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM). The Convention has been in force in the European Union since 1 October 2023.
Ana Carla Pereira, Director of Equality and Non-Discrimination at the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST), stressed that, following EU accession, the time has now come to effectively implement European commitments to combat violence against women.
The evaluation will be sent this month to the Group of experts on action against violence against women and domestic violence (GREVIO), which is responsible for monitoring the proper implementation of the Istanbul Convention.
Three priorities have been formulated by the Commission. The aim is to improve prevention and the protection of victims, and to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable and that the European institutions set an example, particularly in their role as employers.
Ana Carla Pereira recalled the implementation of a new internal framework for preventing and dealing with harassment within the Commission in 2023.
She reiterated the importance of preserving specific funding, in particular for Daphne within the future Agora EU programme, saying that “the sinews of war are also very important for implementing these different policies”. The directive adopted in 2024 is, in her view, “the main instrument” for bringing EU law into line with the Convention.
The political context was raised during the session, as the Latvian Parliament voted, in late October (see EUROPE 13743/15), to withdraw from the Convention, before the President, Edgars Rinkēvičs, sent the text back for re-examination on 3 November.
On 31 October, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a Commission spokesperson, pointed out that a national withdrawal does not release the State concerned, which should “continue to comply with international standards”, on pain of possible infringement proceedings.
Several female MEPs called for strict enforcement. According to the Chair of the FEMM Committee, Lina Gálvez (S&D, Spanish), “it is time to stop politicising. (...) This is about protecting women”. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)