Informação Jurídica

With the vote held yesterday at the EP headquarters in Strasbourg, MEPs resolved to urge the European Union to ratify the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, in view of theopinion of the Court of Justice of 2021.

The Istanbul Convention constitutes the international standard to eradicate gender violence: the text condemns the abrupt setback in gender equality in some Member States, such as Poland (whose government plans to withdraw from the Convention and where abortion has been de facto prohibited), and encourages EU governments to fight against misinformation about the content and mandate of the Convention.

The EU signed the Convention six years ago, but has not yet ratified it, due to the refusal of some Member States. In an opinionissued on October 6, 2021, the Court of Justice of the EU confirmed that the Council can continue the ratification process without the prior agreement of all member states.

The resolution also urges the other six EU countries that have not yet ratified the Convention - Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia - to do so without delay, in parallel with the EU process.

This goes in the right direction of fighting violence against women and girls for the fact that it is, that is, an attack on the human rights of 50% of the population of the EU due to their status as women and that it represents a form of terrorism that is unacceptable in democratic societies: the EESC, through opinionSOC 726 on Combatting Violence Against Womenadopted in July 2022, stated that 'The EESC considers it essential and urgent to push for ratification by all Member States that have not yet done so, and also by the EU itself, of both ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment and the Istanbul Convention.'

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