“The fight against all forms of violence and, a fortiori gender and sexual violence, is not negotiable”

0

Tribune. Today we mark the tenth anniversary of the opening for signature of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence which has been concluded and signed in Istanbul in 2011. The result of a series of European initiatives launched in the 1990s, it entered into force on 1er August 2014 and is known as the “Istanbul Convention”.

To date, 33 countries have signed, ratified and implemented it and 11 other countries have signed it without ratifying it. One country recently withdrew. The first legally binding European treaty offering a comprehensive approach, the Istanbul Convention was an important achievement in the fight against gender-based and sexual violence.

Article reserved for our subscribers Read also “Sofagate”: Ursula von der Leyen’s relentless plea for women

It includes a set of multidisciplinary measures aimed at preventing violence, protecting victims and prosecuting perpetrators. It offers signatory countries a set of tangible measures such as accommodation places, telephone helplines as well as comprehensive assistance to victims of sexual violence.

A real impact on the lives of women and girls

Beyond these concrete measures, she firmly affirms that violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination. The Convention also created a legal framework at pan-European level and includes a specific monitoring mechanism to ensure the effective implementation of its provisions.

The Istanbul Convention has already had a real impact on the lives of women and girls in Europe. It has contributed to raising society’s awareness of gender-based and sexual violence but also to the establishment in national laws of more ambitious legislative arsenals. It has made it possible to strengthen the training of legal and health professionals as well as the police – a very important measure to eliminate the obstacles to access to justice for women victims of violence.

Also read this recent column: Sedef Ecer: “Years of struggle by Turkish women and NGOs have been trampled on”

Finally, it also made it possible to increase the visibility of the societal debate on these questions. It is with great concern that we are witnessing growing opposition to this historic convention. In this period of health, economic and social crisis, women are at the forefront of careers, education, mass distribution and cleaning.

An unprecedented campaign of disinformation

You have 65.49% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.