Latvia’s ombudsman invites the 14th Saeima to ratify the Istanbul Convention, which is something the previous Saeima failed to do, as reported by the Office of the Ombudsman communication and international cooperation department head Ruta Siliņa.
The ombudsman noted that violence against women and domestic violence remain a very serious problem. The fight against violence is on the agenda of multiple international organisations. The European Commission has developed a proposal for directives on prevention of violence against women and domestic violence, which now includes a new form of violence – cyber violence.
The ombudsman referenced data from the Central Statistical Bureau and added that violence remains a major problem for Latvia as well.
Available data indicates that every fourth woman and every fifth man aged 18-74 has experienced physical or sexual violence at least once. Most often the source of violence was a man. In 18.1% of cases violence was committed by women. According to responses from men, most often they were subjected to violence by another man, whereas in 11.3% of cases violence came from a woman. The ombudsman notes, however, in most cases women are the ones who suffer from violence.
The ombudsman explained that
Latvia stands out in a very negative light when it comes to murder.
Data from European Institute for Gender Equality indicates that Latvia is am anti-leader among EU member states. In 2018 the number of female murder victims in Latvia was 4.12 per 100 000 residents. Latvia is also an anti-leader when it comes to the number of murders of women committed by family members and relatives.
Part of the reason for this violence can be found in the established stereotypes about the roles of men and women.
The Istanbul Convention is a comprehensive international document intended to help prevent violence against women and domestic violence. The convention also states that member states are to perform all necessary measures to promote changes to social environment and culture to change the behaviour of men and women. All this is intended to eliminate prejudices, customs, traditions and any other practice based on the idea of female inferiority or on the roles of women and men.
Of the countries that are members of the Council of Europe only eight have not ratified the convention – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia and Latvia.
The ombudsman outlines that in the public space people have voiced many myths about the «social gender» terminology. These people, according to the ombudsman, believe this puts at risk Christian values and presents major challenges for various education programmes.
Multiple members of the 13th Saeima have turned to the Constitutional Court, saying that certain articles of the Istanbul Convention would basically force the country to perform measures to alter public opinions and prevent discrimination of people who identify themselves with genders they were not born into.
According to those deputies, the challenged articles were in breach of the Constitutional and Christian values of the Republic of Latvia.
Section 99 of the Constitution, for example, states that all people in the country have the right to freedom of thought, and Section 110 lists a duty for the state to «protect and support marriage – a union between a man and a woman, the family, the rights of parents and rights of the child».
The Constitutional Court concluded that he Istanbul Convention’s objective is prevention of violence against women and domestic violence in order to promote gender equality. This means that all duties presented to member states in relation to the Istanbul Convention apply only to the objective listed in the convention.
The Constitutional Court therefore ruled that the convention passed by the Council of Europe on the 11th of May 2011 on prevention of violence against women and domestic violence as compliant with the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia.
Women’s Discrimination Prevention Committee concluded in 2020 that there were still certain gender-discriminating stereotypes in Latvia, as well as patriarchy, sexist rhetoric on mass media and among politicians. Women in Latvia are also invited to comply with traditional roles and values, the committee reported.
The committee did welcome certain legislative measures Latvia has employed to prevent violence against women. Nevertheless, the committee is also concerned that Latvia still has not ratified the Istanbul Convention.
Parties of the 14th Saeima have different opinions about this convention. In October 2022 PM Krišjānis Kariņš said his party – New Unity – believes the convention should be ratified because it is a widely accepted international convention. The National Alliance, however, is of a different opinion.
Jānis Reirs, who was then the Minister of Welfare, signed the convention in 2016, but Latvia still has not ratified it.
Former Minister of Welfare Ramona Petraviča did not support the ratification of this convention. In her interview to TV3 programme 900 seconds in 2020, she said «the convention is presented as a document that protects women from violence, but in our country violence is already prohibited; our laws already provide criminal liability for violence».
Also read: Ombudsman: it’s wrong to make decisions without asking children