“We regret to learn of the renewed opposition of the Slovak Parliament to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention),” said Liliane Maury Pasquier, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo (Monaco, ALDE), the Assembly’s General Rapporteur on violence against women.
“The Istanbul Convention is to date the most ambitious international treaty designed to combat violence against women, a serious violation of human rights. Failure by a State to ratify this Convention means that it will not bring its legislation up to the standards promoted by the Istanbul Convention, which are the most advanced to date in combating violence against women,” they said.
“This means less protection for women and children who are victims of violence, fewer measures to prevent violence against women, and fewer services to help victims, less monitoring of perpetrators and fewer convictions against them. Finally, for the State, this means that it will not be able to benefit from strong international co-operation and exchange good practices to address these challenges and thus put an end to violence against women and domestic violence,” they added.
“As President of the Parliamentary Assembly and General Rapporteur on violence against women, we would like to recall that PACE is always ready to co-operate with national parliaments. We call on the Slovak Parliament to take advantage of this opportunity and our willingness to work together to better understand the scope of the Istanbul Convention, the importance of its ratification and implementation, and its very great positive potential for helping all women who are victims of violence,” they concluded.
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