Dublin, jeudi 29 septembre 2022
(Anglais uniquement)
Madam Minister for Justice,
Madam Secretary General of the Council of Europe,
Excellencies, dear participants,
Thank you for inviting me to join this conference today as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. I would like to thank the Irish Presidency of the Committee of Ministers and the Department of Justice of Ireland for having organised it, and for having made the issue of violence against women such a key priority of Ireland’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
Last year, the Parliamentary Assembly organised in Strasbourg a special event on the 10th anniversary of the Istanbul Convention. At the initiative of my predecessor President Rik Daems, we evaluated the first ten years of this tremendously important Convention, the first ever legally binding instrument which creates a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combat violence against women and domestic violence.
Amongst those who participated in this event was Mrs Nadia Murad, who herself suffered the brutality of violence against women when she was captured and exploited by Daesh terrorists. Since then, Mrs Murad has become one of the world’s leading advocates in the combat of violence against women. Winner of the Council of Europe Václav Havel Prize and of the Nobel Peace Prize, she herself is an example of the importance of loud and clear speaking out against this violence, that so often – and so understandably - makes victims feel ashamed and therefore speechless.
Mrs Murad told us about the need to speak out and take action against the violation of the fundamental rights of any woman and girl, every time she is exposed to domestic violence, sexual harassment and exploitation, rape, forced marriage, crimes committed in the name of so-called 'honour' and genital mutilation. And she told us that this is the way forward for any community to handle this horror. She said: "Preventing gender-based violence does not deplete a community. It strengthens it and provides a foundation for success." And Mrs Murad underlined the enormous importance of the Istanbul Convention, for everyone, including men and boys.
The Istanbul Convention is a unique effort and a remarkable success on the road to create a Europe free from violence against women and domestic violence. It is there and I quote: "to recognize that the realisation of de jure and de facto equality between women and men is a key element in the prevention of violence against women". It is there "to recognize that violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between women and men, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full advancement of women."
The good news is that since 2011, 45 States have signed the Convention and 37 have ratified it. Amongst them, very recently, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. May I praise both governments and parliaments of these two Council of Europe member States for their courage to do so, in these difficult times. Especially Ukraine, which is, since the beginning of this year, confronted with a brutal war of aggression by Russia, in which – as always – violence against women is used as one of the weapons against the population. Our Assembly will support the Ukrainian authorities to do whatever is needed to investigate these crimes and make sure that justice will be done. The Istanbul Convention surely can be of help in this respect.
The bad news is that the first signatory, Türkiye, has withdrawn from the Convention, and that in some other States which signed the Convention, doubts have been cast by some political, cultural and religious forces about its contents. I would ask all of us to vehemently counter any fake news about it. Let us be clear: the Istanbul Convention is about combating the ongoing, widespread violence against women and domestic violence. Nothing less. Nothing more.
Further bad news is that during the Covid crisis, the situations of confinement led to a substantial higher risk within families of domestic and gender-based violence; some countries even reported domestic violence abuses rising by one third!
And in these times of influx of millions of refugees from Ukraine and of refugees and migrants from elsewhere, women, girls – as well as boys – are especially in danger of falling victim to sexual and gender-based violence, both individually and as the prey of organised crimes of prostitution, trafficking and domestic slavery, whereas forced marriage and child marriage continue in several countries.
In-between the good and the bad news is the position of the European Union. Let us be grateful that the Union, in which Ireland and my country, the Netherlands, participate, has used the possibility of the Convention to sign it, alongside States. But let us keep emphasizing that now ratification by the EU is urgently needed. To strengthen the Convention, to weaken unjustified criticism against it. At this moment the Irish Presidency of the Council of Europe is working hard to prepare the upcoming Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe. We all hope that EU’s accession to the European Convention of human rights – an obligation under the Lisbon Treaty – will be on the Summit’s agenda. Would it not be great when we see the ratification of the Istanbul Convention also on that agenda?
It is a long road to a Europe free from violence against women. Let me praise in this respect the activities of the GREVIO, which monitors the implementation of the Convention in States that have become part of this legal space of protection of women against violence.
The Parliamentary Assembly has done what the Convention asks : to take stock of the implementation – and to suggest additional proposals to improve it. This is done through awareness-raising debates, hearings, with the development of new resolutions and specific parliamentary projects.
Our very active Network Women Free from Violence has developed several tools based on the Istanbul Convention to help parliamentarians combat violence and work for change. The Network has a handbook for parliamentarians on working with the Istanbul Convention. It has organised peer-to-peer seminars based on this handbook, which now exists in 12 languages, so can be used easily in national contexts.
In two weeks' time we will be debating a report at our autumn session on ending discrimination in the world of sport, which addresses the sexual violence committed on young sportspersons. In January, we will debate three reports whose content ties in completely with the themes of the conference:
Dear participants,
As lawmakers and parliamentarians, eliminating all forms of violence against women is one of the most pressing issues with which we are faced. This human rights violation is impacting every member State. To achieve it, I believe that the proper implementation of the Istanbul Convention is key. I would like to urge member States, which have not yet done so, to ratify or at least sign this convention, which has brought about positive change in all the countries where it is enforced. And, before doing so, they should use the Istanbul Convention as the basis and inspiration in designing their national legislation and policy frameworks. The hundreds of millions of women and girls of Europe need it, want it, deserve it, demand it – and right they are!