The Verkhovna Rada ratified the Istanbul Convention, which Ukraine signed back in 2011
The Verkhovna Rada ratified the Istanbul Convention at a plenary session on Monday. This was reported by several people's deputies in their social networks. – Parliament supported the ratification of … the Istanbul Convention (on the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence). For – 259 votes! There were only 8 votes against, – wrote Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Voice faction) in the Telegram channel. The head of the Servant of the People party, Olena Shulyak, said that upon ratification, Ukraine makes a “special statement” regarding that the Convention will be applied in accordance with the norms and principles of the Constitution of Ukraine and does not oblige changes to the Constitution or the Family Code regarding women and men, family values, marriage, family and adoption. – The situation in Ukraine will be assessed by external experts who monitor the implementation of the Istanbul Convention and can provide advice and recommendations leading to better prevention of violence, protection of victims and prosecution of perpetrators, – she wrote. As European Pravda noted, the ratification of this Council of Europe convention is considered a good signal on the eve of the EU summit about Ukraine's readiness to implement the reforms necessary for European integration. This was especially important for the Netherlands and Sweden, two skeptical countries that agreed to support the candidate status for Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy registered a bill (No. 0157) to ratify the Istanbul Convention on Saturday. The explanatory note to the bill says that the ratification of the convention will help improve the political image of Ukraine in the international arena, as a country that consistently adheres to its obligations in the field of human rights protection. The norms of Ukrainian laws on preventing and combating domestic violence have already been adapted to the provisions of the convention. The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence has been open for signing since May 11, 2011 in Istanbul. Signed by 46 countries and the European Union, it entered into force in 2014. Ukraine signed the Council of Europe Convention on Combating Violence Against Women back in 2011, but did not ratify it because of the concept of “gender” and ” gender identity”. There were attempts to support the document in parliament in 2016 and 2019. In March 2021, Turkey canceled the ratification of the Istanbul Convention due to the “normalization of homosexuality”. The Istanbul Convention invites states to criminalize the main types of violence against women. Among them are psychological abuse, stalking, physical and sexual abuse, forced marriage, forced abortion and sterilization.
