On Thursday, the 1st of June, the European Union (EU) approved the union’s joining of the Convention on the Prevention of Violence Against Women.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU joining the convention will be a strong signal of the bloc’s commitment towards preventing and punishing violence against women.
On the 10th of May the European Parliament (EP) supported EU’s joining of the convention.
The Council of Europe passed the Istanbul Convention in 2011. The convention came into force in 2014, and the European Union signed it in June 2017. This is the first international document of this kind.
The goal of the Istanbul Convention is preventing violence against women, as well as domestic violence. This convention provides for the creation of a comprehensive and multi-lateral regulatory framework in an effort to protect women from all forms of violence, reduce and prevent domestic violence.
Although the EU had signed this document, the union has so far been slow with its full ratification, because certain member states have refused to ratify it.
While most member states have already ratified it, there are six countries – Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia – that still haven’t done it.
On the 6th of October 2021 Court of Justice of the European Union concluded the EU can ratify the Istanbul Convention even if not all member states agree with it.
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