23/10/2025 President
Theodoros Rousopoulos, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), made the following statement today:
“I am extremely concerned by the fast-tracking of parliamentary votes to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, scheduled in the Saeima today and next week, without waiting for the opinion of the Venice Commission which has been requested by the Latvian Minister of Justice”, said the Assembly’s President.
“Latvian parliamentarians risk sending the message to women victims of violence that their rights and needs are not taken seriously, and that they do not deserve the high protection and support mechanisms of this Convention”, underlined the President.
If MPs vote to denounce this important Convention, just over a year after it entered into force in Latvia, the country will become the first EU country to withdraw from a major Council of Europe human rights treaty. “This is all the more serious given that the EU itself became a Party to the Istanbul Convention in 2023, and given that the Istanbul Convention is without a doubt one of the main legal instruments of the Council of Europe, at the heart of its core values”, said the President.
“I strongly urge the Saeima to vote to maintain the protection for women’s rights and lives established by the Istanbul Convention, which is considered in Europe and beyond as a ‘gold standard’ in the fight to prevent and punish violence against women”, concluded the President.
Latvia ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention) in 2024, alongside other 37 European countries. The European Union became a Party to this Convention in 2023.