Istanbul Convention

The Council of Europe has undertaken a series of initiatives to promote the protection of women against violence since the 1990s. In particular, these initiatives have resulted in the adoption, in 2002, of the Council of Europe Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence,^[11] and the running of a Europe-wide campaign, from 2006 to 2008, to combat violence against women, including domestic violence.^[12] The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has also taken a firm political stance against all forms of violence against women. It has adopted a number of resolutions and recommendations calling for legally-binding standards on preventing, protecting against and prosecuting the most severe and widespread forms of gender-based violence.^[13]

National reports, studies and surveys revealed the magnitude of the problem in Europe.^[13] The campaign in particular showed a large variation in Europe of national responses to violence against women and domestic violence. Thus, the need for harmonized legal standards to ensure that victims benefit from the same level of protection everywhere in Europe became apparent. The Ministers of Justice of Council of Europe member states began discussing the need to step up protection from domestic violence, in particular intimate partner violence.

The Council of Europe decided it was necessary to set comprehensive standards to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence. In December 2008, the Committee of Ministers set up an expert group mandated to prepare a draft convention in this field. Over the course of just over two years, this group, called the CAHVIO (Ad Hoc Committee for preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence),^[14] developed a draft text. During the later stage of drafting of the convention, UK, Italy, Russia, and the Holy See proposed several amendments to limit the requirements provided by the convention. These amendments were criticized by Amnesty International.^[15] The final draft of the convention was produced in December 2010.

The Istanbul Convention is the first legally-binding instrument which claims to create "a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combat violence against women" and is focused on preventing domestic violence, protecting victims and prosecuting accused offenders.^[16]

It characterizes violence against women as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination (Art.3(a)). Countries should exercise due diligence when preventing violence, protecting victims and prosecuting perpetrators (Art. 5). The convention also contains a definition of gender: for the purpose of the Convention gender is defined in Article 3(c) as "the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men". Moreover, the treaty establishes a series of offences characterized as violence against women and provides protective measures such as specialist support services (Art. 22) and shelters (Art.23) for women and their children. States which ratify the Convention must criminalize several offences, including: psychological violence (Art.33); stalking (Art.34); physical violence (Art.35); sexual violence, including rape, explicitly covering all engagement in non-consensual acts of a sexual nature with a person (Art.36), forced marriage (Art.37); female genital mutilation (Art.38), forced abortion and forced sterilisation (Art.39). The Convention states that sexual harassment must be subject to "criminal or other legal sanction" (Art. 40). The convention also includes an article targeting crimes committed in the name of "so-called honour" (Art. 42).^[2]

The convention contains 81 articles separated into 12 chapters. Its structure follows the structure of the Council of Europe's most recent conventions.^[17] The structure of the instrument is based on the "four Ps": Prevention, Protection and support of victims, Prosecution of offenders and Integrated Policies. Each area foresees a series of specific measures.^[18] The convention also establishes obligations in relation to the collection of data and supporting research in the field of violence against women (Art. 11).

The preamble recalls the European Convention on Human Rights, European Social Charter and Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings as well as international human rights treaties by United Nations and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In Article 2, this Convention indicates that the provisions shall apply in time of peace and also in situations of armed conflicts in violence against women and domestic violence. Article 3 defines key terms:

• "violence against women" is "violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women and shall mean all acts of gender-based violation that result in, or are likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological, or economic harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life",
• "domestic violence": "all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur with the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim."
• "gender": means "the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men."
• "gender-based violence against women": means "violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately."

Article 4 prohibits several types of discrimination stating: The implementation of the provisions of this convention by the Parties, in particular measure to protect the rights of victims, shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, gender, race, colour, language political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, state of health, disability, marital status, migrant or refugee status, or other status.

The convention mandates an independent expert body, the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), with monitoring the implementation of the convention. Its members are elected by the state parties; depending on the number of state parties the body consists of between ten and fifteen members.^[19]

The first ten members were elected in 2014: President Feride Acar (Turkey), First Vice-president Marceline Naudi (Malta), Second Vice-president Simona Lanzoni (Italy), and members Biljana Brankovic (Serbia), Françoise Brie (France), Gemma Gallego (Spain), Helena Leitao (Portugal), Rosa Logar (Austria), Iris Luarasi (Albania) and Vesna Ratkovic (Montenegro).^[20]

Five additional members were elected in 2018: Per Arne Håkansson (Sweden), Sabine Kräuter-Stockton (Germany), Vladimer Mkervalishvili (Georgia), Rachel Eapen Paul (Norway) and Aleid van den Brink (Netherlands).^[21]

With several GREVIO members finishing their mandates, new elections were held in December of 2023.

The draft of the convention was adopted by the Council of Europe Ministers Deputies on 7 April 2011 on the occasion of the 1111th meeting.^[22] It opened for signature on 11 May 2011 on the occasion of the 121st Session of the Committee of Ministers in Istanbul. It entered into force following 10 ratifications, eight of which were required to be member states of the Council of Europe. As of December 2015, the convention was signed by 39 states, followed by ratification of the minimum eight Council of Europe states: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia, and Turkey. Later that year, it was ratified by Andorra, Denmark, France, Malta, Monaco, Spain, and Sweden. In 2015, it was ratified also by Finland, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia, and in 2016, by Belgium, San Marino and Romania; in 2017 by Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland, in 2018 by Croatia, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg and Republic of Macedonia, and in 2019, by Ireland.^[3] On 13 June 2017, European Commissioner Věra Jourová (Gender Equality) signed the Istanbul Convention on behalf of the European Union.^[23] On 20 June 2022 the Ukrainian parliament ratified the treaty,^[24] followed in July 2022 by the United Kingdom. States that have ratified the convention are legally bound by its provisions once it enters into force.^[24]

28 June 2023 saw the European Union ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (CETS No. 210), known as the “Istanbul Convention”.^[9] The convention cane into force in respect of the European Union as of 1 October 2023.

The convention can be denounced through a notification to the COE Secretary General (Article 80) and enters into force three months after that notification.^[25]

The Armenian government approved the signing of the Convention in the session of 28 December 2017.^[28] In 2019, during the public discussions about the approval of the convention, there were opinions both for and against. A number of politicians and statesmen have stated that it contradicts the Constitution of Armenia^[29][30] and could result in the idea of having a third gender.^[29] On 1 August 2019, the Deputy Minister Kristinne Grigoryan of the Armenian Ministry of Justice released a clarifying statement on the convention, remarking that its purpose is the prevention of violence and not the redefinition of the family.^[31] The ministry also announced that it had sought guidance from the Venice Commission, a Council of Europe body that advises on legal and constitutional issues, on the "constitutional implications" of the ratification of the convention. Assuming that the Venice Commission rules favorably, Armenia's ratification appears inevitable given the fact that an overwhelming majority of members of parliament support it.^[32]

Discussions surrounding the ratification were also met with opposition from some members of the public, who accused the convention to be intended to legalize same-sex marriage and spread LGBT "propaganda". According to Human Rights Watch, some officials used derogatory and hateful words against LGBT activists as a result.^[33]

The United Nations Human Rights Council in its 2020 in the report urged Armenia to immediately ratify the Istanbul Convention to effectively protect the well-being of women who experience domestic violence, but also men,^[34] complaining of insufficient protection for both in existing Armenian legislation.^[33] In November 2022, the European Union's ambassador to Armenia, Andrea Wiktorin, urged the Armenian government to speed up proceedings to ratify the convention.^[35]

In January 2018, the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria adopted a proposal to the Parliament to ratify the convention. The decision was quickly condemned by some government ministers, members of parliament, media groups and civic organisations, who suggested that the convention would eventually lead to a formal recognition of a third gender and same-sex marriage.^[36] After widespread backlash, the third Borisov Government postponed the ratification and transferred the decision to the Constitutional Court, which would rule whether it would be legal.^[37] President Rumen Radev, an opponent of the ratification, hailed the postponement as a "triumph of common sense", stating that the convention is ambiguous and that domestic violence can only be addressed by adequate Bulgarian laws and improved law enforcement.^[38]

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov cited the isolation of his GERB party, which was not supported even by its coalition partner, the far-right United Patriots. Borisov expressed surprise that the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) was firmly against the convention as well, and suggested that the Socialists are opposing the European Union altogether.^[39] The BSP declared itself firmly against the convention, causing a rift between the Party of European Socialists and the BSP's new political line under Korneliya Ninova.^[40] According to the Socialists' "Vision for Bulgaria" programme, the convention is "not meant to protect women. The convention is against fundamental values of European civilisation".^[41]

On 27 July 2018, the Constitutional Court pronounced Resolution No 13 on Constitutional Case No. 3/2018 stating that "the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, does not comply with the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria". In its decision, the Court identified a relation between previous Council of Europe documents against domestic violence and the expansion of transgender rights. According to the Constitutional Court, the convention offers a binary interpretation of gender as both a biological and social category, which contradicts the constitution of Bulgaria, where humans are irrevocably defined as biologically male or female, with equal standing as citizens. The convention therefore lays formal ground to promote non-biological definitions of gender, which are deemed unconstitutional.^[42]

Women's rights groups were outraged by the Bulgarian government's decision not to ratify the Istanbul Convention. In November 2018, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, hundreds of people demonstrated in the centre of Sofia against violence against women under the motto #YouAreNotAlone (#НеСиСама), demanding effective action from the institutions including the creation of prevention programmes and shelters for victims. The organisers, the Bulgarian Fund for Women, cited the fact that in the first eleven months of 2018, almost 30 women were killed in Bulgaria, most of them by their partners.^[43]

The League of Human Rights (a Czech organization part of the International Federation for Human Rights) and the Czech Women's Lobby together with several other smaller organizations (proFem, Czech Women's Union, Rosa) advocated for the adoption of the convention. The adoption of the convention was also supported for a long time by the former Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation, Jiří Dienstbier, who in January 2016 accepted a petition by Amnesty International for its adoption on behalf of the government. The Czech Republic finally signed the treaty on 12 May 2016, one of the last EU countries to do so. The signature was joined by its ambassador to the Council of Europe, Emil Ruffer. According to the plans, the ratification of the treaty itself was to take place by mid-2018.^[44] However, neither the first nor the second government of Andrej Babiš discussed its ratification. The government of Petr Fiala, on the other hand, postponed negotiations on the ratification of the convention, according to the Minister of Justice Pavel Blažek, to the end of January 2023.^[45]

In June 2023, the government agreed to continue the process of adopting the convention. Government Commissioner for Human Rights Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková stated that the cabinet approved the convention for ratification.^[46]

In January 2024 it was rejected by Senate.

In May 2020, the National Assembly adopted a political declaration in which it called on the government not to go any further in acceding to the convention and to lobby the European Union to do the same. The declaration was adopted with 115 votes in favour, 35 against and three abstentions.^[47]

The Cabinet of Ministers of Lithuania initially signed the Convention on June 6, 2013.^[48] The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania welcomed the move, with Giedrė Purvaneckienė stating it will strengthen already existing laws in the country on violence against women. On the other hand, the move was strongly protested by conservative groups, with MP Rimantas Dagys stating the decision was taken without consultations with the public.

Ratification of the Convention stalled however, with subsequent majorities in the Seimas not carrying it through. In 2021, speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen brought renewed attention to the ratification process, but opposition remained within the Seimas, and the issue was once again postponed.^[49] In June 2023, the Constitutional Court of Lithuania was asked by Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen to review the convention and verify if it abides to the constitution of the country.^[50] Frederikas Jansonas, chief advisor to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, described this move as unnecessary and claimed the President believes the Seimas is ready to deliberate and vote on this issue in the near future.^[51]

Conservative, Christian democratic, Roman Catholic, nationalist and far-right groups and parties in Slovakia have been opposed to the country ratifying the convention, especially because of its clauses concerning LGBT rights, which they portrayed as "extreme liberalism" that corrodes "traditional values" they felt needed to be protected.^[52][53] On 29 March 2019, one day before the 2019 Slovak presidential election, nationalist politicians forced through a parliamentary resolution asking Slovakia's government not to ratify the Istanbul Convention, in an effort to mobilise conservative voters to vote for Maroš Šefčovič instead of the progressive candidate Zuzana Čaputová, who had been supporting LGBT rights and women's right to abortion.^[52] Although Čaputová won the election and became Slovakia's first female president, conservative groups stepped up their campaign to prevent Slovakia from ratifying the convention and restricting access to abortion in the following months.^[53] On 25 February 2020, the Parliament of Slovakia, the National Council, rejected the Convention at an extraordinary session by a vote of 17–96 (37 absent).^[54] Following the decision of Parliament, President Zuzana Čaputová sent a letter to the Council of Europe on 6 March 2020, informing it that the Slovak Republic could not become a party to the Istanbul Convention. Presidential spokesperson Martin Strižinec commented: "Since the necessary condition to ratify the convention is the consent of Parliament, but this hasn't happened, this convention won't be ratified by the president," adding that Čaputová repeatedly stated that if Parliament decided on the document in a constitutionally prescribed manner, she would respect the will of its members.^[55]

On 20 March 2021, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced his country's withdrawal from the convention by a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey.^[56] The notification for withdrawal has been reported to the Secretary-General by Turkey on 22 March 2021 and the Secretary-General has announced that denunciation will enter into force on 1 July 2021.^[2] The withdrawal has been criticized both domestically and internationally, including by the opposition parties in the country, foreign leaders, the Council of Europe, NGOs and on social media. The CoE Secretary-General Marija Pejčinović Burić described the decision as "devastating news" and a "huge setback" that compromises the protection of women in Turkey and abroad.^[57] A spokesperson of the Republican People's Party (CHP) claimed that the agreement cannot be withdrawn without parliamentary approval, since it was approved by parliament on 24 November 2011. According to the CHP and various lawyers, the right to approve the withdrawal belongs to the parliament according to Article 90 of the Constitution. However, the government claims that the president has the authority to withdraw from international agreements as stated in article 3 of the presidential decree no. 9.^[58][59] The decision sparked protests across Turkey and comes at a time where the domestic violence against women and femicides in the country are soaring.^[57] US President Joe Biden described the move as "deeply disappointing", while the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged the authorities to reverse the decision.^[60][61] In an official statement, the Turkish Presidency blamed the LGBT community for the withdrawal from the convention, arguing that "the Istanbul Convention, originally intended to promote women's rights, was hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality – which is incompatible with Turkey's social and family values. Hence, the decision to withdraw.". That view is shared by conservative groups and officials from Erdoğan's Islamic-oriented ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), who claim that the agreement is promoting homosexuality, encouraging divorce and undermining what constitutes a "sacred" family in their view.^[60] Answering to criticism over the legality of withdrawal by the Presidency instead of Parliament, Erdoğan insisted that the withdrawal was "completely legal".^[5]

On 29 June, the Council of State rejected a motion for stay of execution regarding Erdogan's sole decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention on violence against women and ruled that it was legal for Erdoğan to withdraw the country out of the convention since the authority to ratify and annul international agreements was among the president's powers, according to Article 104 of the constitution.^[62]

The convention was signed on behalf of Latvia by the Minister of Welfare Jānis Reirs on 18 May 2016,^[63] but in order for the convention to enter into force, it must also be ratified by the Saeima. In 2020, the Constitutional Court, following the request of 21 members of the Saeima, initiated a case on the compliance of three Istanbul Convention articles with the Latvian Constitution. On 4 June 2021, the Constitutional Court made public its decision, recognizing that the norm on the implementation of special measures to protect women from violence complies with the Constitution.^[64]

Following a homicide of a woman in April 2023, 100 protesters gathered in front of the parliament.^[65] As of April 2023, the government in its large majority did not express interest in ratifying the Istanbul convention, with indifference to the issue among the ruling parties and claims that present laws already in place are sufficient.^[66]

Ultimately, the Latvian Saeima ratified the Istanbul Convention on 30 November 2023.^[67]

The Parliament of Moldova ratified the convention on 14 October 2021, and it entered into force in Moldova on 1 May 2022.^[68]

On 13 April 2015, the President of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, formally ratified the Convention at the national level,^[69] and the ratification documents were deposited with the Council of Europe on 27 April 2015,^[70] thus formally binding Poland to the Convention, which entered into force in Poland on 1 August 2015.^[70]

The convention has been opposed by the Law and Justice party of Poland, which has ruled the country since November 2015. In July 2020, Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro declared he will begin preparing the formal process to withdraw from the treaty. He said that the treaty is harmful because it requires that schools teach children about gender in an "ideological way" and de-emphasizes biological sex.^[71] Earlier in 2012, when in opposition, Ziobro had referred to the treaty as "an invention, a feminist creation aimed at justifying gay ideology".^[72] The Law and Justice government also criticized the treaty for stating that "culture, custom, religion, tradition or so-called 'honour' shall not be regarded as justification" for acts of violence against women.^[73]

These claims have been refuted by the Polish non-profit fact-checking organization "Stowarzyszenie Demagog".^[74] In Warsaw, hundreds of people demonstrated against the withdrawal.^[71] The announcement was made soon after the European Union relaxed the link between funding and the rule of law, under pressure from Poland and Hungary.^[72] The Council of Europe stated "Leaving the Istanbul Convention would be highly regrettable and a major step backwards in the protection of women against violence in Europe."^[71]

Following a change of government in late 2023, the intention to withdraw from the treaty has fully ceased, with the new Prime Minister Donald Tusk announcing on 30 January 2024 his decision to retract the previous PM's motion to the Polish Constitutional Tribunal to examine the Convention's compatibility with the Polish Constitution.^[75] Prime Minister Tusk emphasized that the protection of women and children from violence should never be the subject of political bickering, but rather a matter of common concern.^[75]

Ukraine's legislation in the field of (sexual) violence against women and domestic violence had been relatively weak at the start of the 21st century, and the penalties low. ^[76] In 2011, the Ukrainian government (under president Yanukovych) was one of the authors and first signers of the Istanbul Convention, but tough parliamentary opposition prevented its implementation in subsequent years.^[76] In 2016, a majority of parliament still voted against ratification, partly because several churches and conservative politicians had difficulty with the text.^[76] Meanwhile, the risk of women to become victims of gender-based violence significantly increased in eastern Ukraine ever since the Russo-Ukrainian War began in 2014.^[76]

Throughout the 2010s and the early 2020s, several Ukrainian organisations campaigned for better protection of human rights, pushing for ratification of the convention as a means of achieving that goal.^[76] On 6 December 2017, the Ukrainian Parliament and government, under President Petro Poroshenko, adopted several amendments to its Criminal Code, including consent-based definitions of sexual violence, in order to implement the Istanbul Convention.^[77] The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in a surge of reports of domestic and sexual violence committed against civilians, particularly in the Russian-occupied territories, coupled with the Ukrainian government's desire to join the European Union and gain European support against the invasion, were compelling reasons for eventually ratifying the treaty in its entirety.^[76] On 18 June 2022, president Zelenskyy registered in Parliament a bill on the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. On 20 June 2022, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported the ratification of the Istanbul Convention^[78] by 259 votes against 8.^[76] Ukraine submitted its instrument of ratification on 18 July 2022, so the Convention entered into force in Ukraine on 1 November 2022.^[79]

The United Kingdom submitted its instrument of ratification on 21 July 2022, so the Convention entered into force in the UK on 1 November 2022.^[80]

Criticism includes "the definition and use of the term 'gender' in the convention; the provision obliging states parties to provide teaching on 'non-stereotyped gender roles' at all levels of education; the convention's supposed bias against men; as well as allegations that it threatens state sovereignty."^[81]

In a press release in November 2018, the Council of Europe stated, "Despite its clearly stated aims, several religious and ultra conservative groups have been spreading false narratives about the Istanbul Convention". The release stated that the convention does not seek to impose a certain lifestyle or interfere with personal organization of private life; instead, it seeks only to prevent violence against women and domestic violence. The release states that "the convention is certainly not about ending sexual differences between women and men. Nowhere does the convention ever imply that women and men are or should be 'the same' and that "the convention does not seek to regulate family life and/or family structures: it neither contains a definition of 'family' nor does it promote a particular type of family setting."^[82]

According to Balkan Insight, criticism of the convention, which is strongest in Central and Eastern Europe and mainly by the far right and national conservatives, has little foundation in its actual content: "Using disinformation, populist rhetoric, and appeals to Christian and Islamic morality, [critics] have managed to reframe what is essentially a set of guidelines that creates 'a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combat violence against women', into a sinister attempt by Western Europeans to foist their overly-liberal policies on reluctant societies further east".^[83]

• Bosak, Martina; Munivrana Vajda, Maja (May 2019). "The reality behind the Istanbul convention: Shattering conservative delusions". Women's Studies International Forum. 74: 77–83. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2019.03.004. S2CID 150739029.
• Krizsán, Andrea; Roggeband, Conny; Zeller, Michael C. (2024). "Who is Afraid of the Istanbul Convention? Explaining Opposition to and Support for Gender Equality". Comparative Political Studies.

• Official Convention website
• Convention text
• Signatures and Ratifications