The Left group has strongly condemned EU member states that have either failed to ratify, or are obfuscating and even revoking measures to implement the Istanbul Convention.
With one in three women over the age of 15 having been a victim of physical and/or sexual violence in the EU, the Istanbul Convention is the most comprehensive international treaty in combating violence against women.
But despite coming into force in 2014 and approved by the European Parliament in 2017, the Council keeps blocking the Convention from being acceded – with seven member states including Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Hungary singled out for blame.
In plenary today, 500 MEPs voted in favour of demanding action from the Council, and commenting afterwards, MEP Eugenia Rodríguez Palop (Podemos, Spain) said:
“This resolution recognises that women suffer from gender-based violence visibly and on a widespread scale at both global and European levels.”
“It also strongly condemns the attempts by some EU member states to revoke measures that had already been taken in implementing the Istanbul Convention, as well as others that have not yet ratified it.”
“There could have been stronger references to legal and safe abortion in the resolution but it does recognise that restrictive abortion laws violate women’s human rights,” she added.
“Nevertheless, today’s vote marks a very important step in encouraging the EU to ratify the Convention and pressuring those that haven’t. However, we still need a directive that condemns all forms of gender violence – one that homogenises and brings such unlawful acts in line with other criminal offences.”.
“For women to live in this world, we need protection. Our voice is missing because the testimonies and experiences of women are not heard and are ignored by the judicial system. But despite all the shortcomings of this resolution, this is still a step in the right direction and one that says the European Parliament strongly opposes the extremist macho, misogynistic and homophobic right-wing,” she concluded.