Promoting the Istanbul Convention and improving its implementation: building on lessons learnt
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 22 April 2026 (14th sitting) (see Doc. 16372, report
of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, rapporteur:
Ms Zita Gurmai). Text adopted by the Assembly on
22 April 2026 (14th sitting).Provisional version
subject to editorial review.
1. Women continue
to be disproportionately affected by gender-based violence, whether
it is physical, sexual, psychological, or economic, online and offline.
Such violence constitutes a serious violation of human rights and
a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between
women and men, based on the idea of the inferiority of women and
leading to exerting control and domination over them.
2. Violence against women and domestic violence occur in all
territories and across all socio-economic groups and sectors in
society. Their prevalence remains very high while perpetrators often
go unpunished, as reporting and conviction rates are low. European
Union data from 2024 indicate that one in three women experience
physical and/or sexual violence, while just one in eight report
the incident to the police.
3. Women victims of violence continue to face stigma, negative
attitudes and victim-blaming. Many of them need a long time to address
feelings of shame and fear, which leads to non-reporting or reporting
many years after the violence took place. There is also a lack of
awareness among victims about their rights and how to access support
services, as well as a lack of trust in the justice system.
4. Women in all their diversity are subjected to gender-based
violence regardless of age, sexual orientation, gender identity
and expression, sex characteristics, migration status, disability,
origin and any other characteristic. All measures to prevent and
combat this violence and to protect victims should be designed and applied
without discrimination on any ground and adopting an intersectional
approach, as not all women survivors of violence have equal access
to support services and justice.
5. Online violence against women is increasingly prevalent and
harmful, and many forms are created and facilitated by the rapid
development of technology, including artificial intelligence. The
Parliamentary Assembly welcomes General
Recommendation No. 1 on the digital dimension of violence against women,
adopted by the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against
Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) in 2021, and
Recommendation
CM/Rec(2026)2 of the Committee of Ministers to member States of the
Council of Europe on accountability for technology-facilitated violence
against women and girls, which provide valuable guidance for member
States.
6. The Assembly actively supported the preparation of the Council
of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against
Women and Domestic Violence (CETS No. 210, “Istanbul Convention”)
and its entry into force, in August 2014. This landmark treaty sets
the highest standards in a comprehensive approach by focusing on
prevention of violence against women, protection of victims, prosecution
of perpetrators and integrated policies, always placing the rights
of the victim at the centre of all actions.
7. The Assembly’s Parliamentary Network Women Free from Violence
and its successive general rapporteurs on violence against women
have played a crucial role in promoting the Istanbul Convention.
The Network also provides a forum for sharing experiences and practical
tools to prevent and combat violence against women.
8. The Assembly has followed up the implementation of the Istanbul
Convention in its
Resolution 2289 (2019) “The Istanbul Convention on violence against women:
achievements and challenges”, and
Resolution 2479 (2023) “The Istanbul Convention: progress and challenges”,
and reiterates the recommendations made in those texts.
9. The Assembly underlines the need to engage with men and boys
to prevent and combat violence against women, and calls for the
implementation of its
Resolution
2480 (2023) “The role and responsibility of men and boys in stopping
gender-based violence against women and girls”. This is critical,
given the rising levels of sexual violence affecting and perpetrated
by young people.
10. Nearly 12 years after it entered into force, with 38 ratifications
by member States and the accession of the European Union in 2023,
the Istanbul Convention has demonstrated its positive impact on
the ground. The Assembly calls for renewed efforts, political will
and adequate resources to counter the growing attacks on the Convention,
which are being carried out through organised disinformation.
11. The Assembly regrets the decision by Türkiye to leave the
Istanbul Convention in 2021, thereby depriving women and girls of
the high standards of the convention, in a context where civil society
monitoring has continued to report a high number of suspicious female
deaths and femicides in the country.
12. The Assembly underlines the need to meet relevant targets
under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030,
including target 5.2 (eliminate all forms of violence against all
women and girls), target 5.3 (eliminate all harmful practices, such
as child, early and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation),
and target 16.3 (promote the rule of law and ensure equal access
to justice for all).
13. In line with its decision to hold regular discussions on the
Istanbul Convention, the Assembly renews its call for the universal
ratification and full implementation of the convention, highlighting
its positive impact and identifying issues where progress is needed
to ensure the right of all women and girls to a life free from violence.
14. The Assembly calls on the member and observer States of the
Council of Europe, and States whose parliament enjoys observer or
partner for democracy status with the Assembly:
14.1 with regard to supporting the
Istanbul Convention and its implementation, to:
14.1.1 promote its ratification by
the Council of Europe member States that are not yet Parties (Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania and the Slovak
Republic, as well as a renewed ratification by Türkiye), and beyond;
14.1.2 counter disinformation campaigns and organised attacks
using false narratives and misconceptions about the convention;
14.1.3 allocate sufficient funding for the implementation of
integrated policies and measures to prevent and combat all forms
of violence covered by the convention, ensuring co-ordination among
relevant bodies and stakeholders throughout their territory;
14.1.4 apply a gender perspective in the implementation of the
Istanbul Convention and in the evaluation of the impact of measures
taken;
14.1.5 co-operate with, involve and support the work of civil
society organisations defending women’s rights and providing support
and specialised services to women victims of violence;
14.1.6 take legal and policy measures to prevent and combat the
forms of violence against women created and facilitated by technology
companies, online platforms and internet intermediaries, including
by artificial intelligence;
14.1.7 improve the collection and publication of data on violence
against women, disaggregated by sex, age, type of violence, relationship
of the victim to the perpetrator and geographical location, to evaluate
progress and inform policy making;
14.2 with regard to awareness raising and other prevention
measures, to:
14.2.1 invest in primary
prevention to address the root causes of all forms of violence against women,
including the digital dimension of such violence, through education
and awareness raising on gender equality and non-stereotyped roles,
and age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education;
14.2.2 take measures to raise awareness of vicarious violence,
whereby children are instrumentalised with the aim of causing psychological
trauma to women by harming, or even murdering, their children;
14.2.3 set up programmes for perpetrators of domestic violence
and sexual violence to help them adopt non-violent behaviours in
order to prevent re-offending, in line with international best practices;
14.3 with regard to protecting and providing support to all
women victims of violence, in all their diversity, to:
14.3.1 ensure the effective implementation
of protection orders and their availability for all women victims
of violence, irrespective of related legal proceedings;
14.3.2 take measures to address the needs of women victims of
violence exposed to multiple and intersectional discrimination,
including women with disabilities; Roma and Traveller women; migrant,
refugee and asylum-seeking women; lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ)
women; women with addictions; women in prostitution; older women;
women in rural areas; and ensuring their access to protection, support
and redress;
14.3.3 address the different types of barriers to reporting violence
against women and domestic violence in different settings, including
those preventing women with disabilities from reporting violence
and accessing support services;
14.3.4 establish rape crisis and sexual violence referral centres
in sufficient numbers and with adequate geographical spread, to
provide a holistic support to women victims that includes medical
attention, short- and long-term psychological support and legal
counselling;
14.3.5 take measures to ensure that decisions on children’s custody
and visitation rights in cases of parental separation take into
account the context of domestic violence, and that mediation, especially
in civil procedures, is neither imposed nor perceived as obligatory;
14.3.6 ensure the safety of women victims of violence and their
children through rigorous and repeated risk assessment and risk
management procedures and measures, kept under regular review;
14.4 with regard to ensuring effective investigation and prosecution
of perpetrators of violence against women, to:
14.4.1 provide compulsory initial and
in-service training for judges, prosecutors and other legal professionals
involved in cases of violence against women, including to prevent
secondary victimisation;
14.4.2 promote the use online courses of the Human Rights Education
for Legal Professionals (HELP) Programme on violence against women
and domestic violence, and the new module on technology-facilitated
violence against women and girls, and their integration in the training curricula
of relevant justice professionals (law enforcement, prosecutors,
judges, lawyers);
14.4.3 adopt legal definitions of sexual violence, including
rape, based on the lack of freely given consent and following the
“Only yes means yes” approach, and implement the actions called
for in
Resolution 2650
(2026) “Paving the way for a culture of consent”;
14.4.4 address the minimisation of domestic violence claims in
parental separation cases based on ill-founded concepts such as
“parental alienation”, which should not be legitimised nor given
legal recognition;
14.4.5 conduct research on the reasons for the low rates of prosecution
and conviction in cases of violence against women and domestic violence.
15. The Assembly calls on all parliaments of Council of Europe
member and observer States, as well as on the parliaments of States
that enjoy observer or partner for democracy status with the Assembly,
to:
15.1 actively promote the Istanbul
Convention, including by raising awareness of the achievements and
added value of the convention, with a view to dispelling misconceptions
and disinformation based on false narratives;
15.2 organise parliamentary inquiries and hearings to give
visibility to, and discuss, the findings and recommendations included
in GREVIO’s evaluation reports;
15.3 participate in the monitoring procedure assessing the
implementation of the Istanbul Convention, in accordance with its
Article 70;
15.4 carry out periodical assessments and reviews of national
legislation and measures to prevent and combat violence against
women and domestic violence and propose legislative and policy changes
to align them with the high standards of the Istanbul Convention,
and allocate appropriate budgets to ensure their adequate implementation
on the ground;
15.5 promote and use the forthcoming new HELP course on violence
against women and domestic violence specifically adapted for, and
addressed to, parliamentarians;
15.6 continue to participate in, and support, the work of the
Parliamentary Network Women Free from Violence.
