Violence against women: Warsaw wants to get out of the Istanbul Convention, Europe worries

In Poland, debates around equality are raging. Recently, members of the government announced their intention to leave the Istanbul Convention, a treaty adopted in 2011 by the Council of Europe (which brings together 47 countries), the first supranational tool to set legally binding standards with a view to prevent gender-based violence. An announcement that has aroused concern among many elected Europeans and feminist associations.

"It is shameful that an EU member state wants to withdraw from the Istanbul convention," tweeted Spaniard Iratxe Garcia Perez, president of the S & D group in the European Parliament, who says she is "alongside the Polish citizens taking to the streets to demand respect for women's rights ”.

Scandalous decision by Polish government to leave #IstanbulConvention. Violence is not a traditional value. EU and all of its members signed, because Europe stands for human rights, equality and decency. https://t.co/YskEiVTnfm

The Romanian Dacian Ciolos, president of the Renew group, stressed to him that "the fight against violence against women is not an ideology, but a moral obligation". "Using the fight against the Istanbul Convention as an instrument to display your conservatism is another pitiful and pathetic maneuver on the part of some in the Polish government," he added. Coming from the same parliamentary group, the former Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, described this intention as "scandalous".

"A feminist creation"

Before them, it was the Council of Europe that was alarmed by the news. "Leaving the Istanbul Convention would be highly regrettable and would be a major step backwards in the protection of women against violence in Europe", worried, in a written statement, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, the general secretary of the defense institution. of Human Rights and the Rule of Law based in Strasbourg.

When the text was signed in 2012, the current Minister of Justice, Zbigniew Ziobro, had considered it at the time "an invention, a feminist creation which aims to justify gay ideology". He said on Saturday that he would present an official document on Monday asking the Family Ministry to prepare the denunciation of the treaty.

In Warsaw, about two thousand people demonstrated Friday against this announcement. The demonstrators, who came to the call of various feminist organizations, gathered in front of the headquarters of an NGO researching and lobbying in favor of "cultural identity", often accused of defending Catholic "religious fundamentalism" , before walking towards the headquarters of the Ministry of Labor. “Stop violence against women,” they shouted, waving “Women's strike” signs.

Poland is not the only country where the Convention is controversial. The Hungarian parliament rejected it last May, the government of Viktor Orban seeing in it the promotion of “the destructive ideology of gender” and of “illegal migration”. In March 2019, the Slovak Parliament rejected its ratification, on the grounds that it would contradict the definition of marriage in the Constitution as a heterosexual union.