Tackling violence against women and domestic violence in Europe – The added value of the Istanbul Convention and remaining challenges

 Abstract

This study was commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee. It aims to understand the implementation of the Convention, its added value, arguments against the ratification of the Convention, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on violence against women (VAW) and domestic violence (DV). The 27 EU Member States are included in the study, together with Turkey, which offers a comparator of the impact of the ratification of the Convention by a non-EU country. 

6.1. Conclusions
This section presents a series of conclusions drawn from the main findings and analysis conducted as
part of this study. They are grouped by the following thematic areas: the added value of the Istanbul
Convention; the reasons for and impact of not ratifying the Istanbul Convention; and the impact of and
response to COVID-19 on VAW.
 

6.1.1. The added value of the Istanbul Convention
The Istanbul Convention has been influential in prompting the adoption of legislative
amendments/new legal measures at national level, with respect to both progressive and more
challenging approaches.
 

•  The act of ratifying the Istanbul Convention has triggered positive amendments toexisting legislation and/or the adoption of new legal measures in State Parties to tackle VAWand DV. Malta introduced a legislative act that voided existing legislation that was inconsistentwith the rights outlined in the Convention (except where it provides a higher degree of victimprotection). In Sweden, ratifying the Convention led to an expansion of the provision onrestraining orders to include perpetrators who share a permanent resident with the victim, andto the addition of provisions against forced marriage to the Penal Code. The evaluation ofnational implementation through the GREVIO monitoring mechanisms is expected to bringfurther legislative and policy changes as countries address GREVIO’s recommendations.

  In full: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=IPOL_STU(2020)658648