Just a coll­ec­tion of signa­tures?

Violence against women is still a big problem. 9 out of 27 Euro­pean count­ries still hold laws that fail to measure rape as a sexual act that occurs without consent. This can’t be it, says poli­ti­ko­range jour­na­lists Karmen and Maja, in their discus­sion of the Istanbul Conven­tion as a possible solu­tion.

Accor­ding to the EU-wide FRA study of 2014 entitled ​‘Violence against women’, every third women living in Europe has expe­ri­enced physical or sexual violence during their adult life. About 55% of women living in the EU have been sexu­ally harassed. 32% of all victims in the EU said the perpe­trator was a supe­rior, colle­ague, or customer. Yet another new problem has emerged in cyber-bullying, which allows perpe­tra­tors to remain anony­mous, and while easily reaching victims beyond borders and count­ries. What can the EU do to lower the occur­rence of these viola­tions? One of the main steps taken could lie in the Istanbul Conven­tion. It is to date the most far-reaching treaty, propo­sing zero tole­rance for violence, whilst protec­ting victims and prose­cu­ting perpe­tra­tors. With its crea­tion, the archi­tects of the conven­tion also intended to change a certain way of thin­king in popular society: espe­ci­ally that of male society members, whose atti­tudes should develop through incre­asing aware­ness. The idea is to teach them about the importance of gender equa­lity from an early age.

A lot to be done

The conven­tion papers were conso­li­dated as far back as August, 2014. By now, 45 count­ries and the Euro­pean Union have signed in agree­ment. By that, they signing nations are obliged to modify laws and intro­duce new, protec­tive measures with the help of allo­cated resources. The conven­tion itself encou­rages the removal of barriers that prevent someone from reporting a crime. It also empowers police to remove a perpe­trator from home, and demands victim assis­tance via shel­ters, dedi­cated phone numbers, specia­lized support services, crisis centers, and legal aid. The conven­tion also encou­rages parti­ci­pa­ting count­ries to train profes­sio­nals to support victims in their physical and emotional reco­very. It conducts aware­ness-raising projects, orga­nizes educa­tion classes, and creates treat­ment programs for perpe­tra­tors. It crimi­na­lizes various forms of violence against women, and makes sure that perpe­tra­tors face convic­tion and punish­ment by reforming judi­cial procee­dings.

The situa­tion is not bright

With so many count­ries signing this conven­tion, you get the feeling that things are really chan­ging for the better. However, the situa­tion is not very bright. Out of 45 signing count­ries, only 34 of them have actually rati­fied conven­tions and put new laws into force*. That means, 11 count­ries have only signed the conven­tion, but never changed anything within their legis­la­tion. The EU also signed the conven­tion in 2017 and has not rati­fied it to this date.

One of the count­ries that has not adopted the Istanbul Conven­tion is Bulgaria. There, the rati­fi­ca­tion of the conven­tion was disputed in the country’s consti­tu­tional court, as it was suggested that adop­ting the conven­tion could lead to the crea­tion of a ​„third gender“ and the lega­liza­tion of same-sex marriage. In the end, the court did not accept the conven­tion because as far as the Bulga­rian consti­tu­tion is concerned, humans are either male or female. That outraged women and women’s rights groups across the region. On the Inter­na­tional Day for the Elimi­na­tion of Violence against Women, people protested in the center of Sofia, Bulga­ria’s capital city. The motto of the protests: #YouA­re­No­tA­lone. The protes­tors demanded the crea­tion of preven­tion programs and shel­ters for victims, as violence against women is still a big problem in Bulgaria. Unfort­u­na­tely, today, things still haven’t changed. Other count­ries like Slovakia and Poland also felt that the conven­tion endan­gered their culture and values, and that it would lead to the destruc­tion of the term gender.

We need its full poten­tial now

It is unde­niable that the Istanbul Conven­tion brought some signi­fi­cant changes in the fight regar­ding violence against women, and helped to spread aware­ness in the society. However, it needs to reach its full poten­tial now. It gave women a voice – a strong voice that is shou­ting that things need to change, and that safety and freedom should not be seen as a privi­lege, but as a basic human right.

* You can find the full list here.