On July 30, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, whose Law and Justice (PiS) party is in coalition with Ziobro’s United Poland, announced that he had asked the country’s constitutional court – widely thought to be controlled by PiS – to examine whether the Istanbul Convention is in line with the Polish constitution. [ DW ; NYT: Poland ] In Poland and elsewhere, conservative politicians have described the Convention as endangering the traditional family. Deadline: 18-Mar-21 The call for proposals “Civil society communication and advocacy campaigns on the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention by piloting the joint methodology developed by Council of Europe, WAVE Network and UN Women in one country: Czech Republic, Latvia or Poland”, aims to pilot the joint methodology by supporting projects from CSOs working in these pilot … In our view, international law, EU law and our national law provide appropriate legal frameworks in this area. “That’s the whole reason why this initiative started, because we saw that the European Court of Human Rights is, step by step, trying to violate the definition of family and marriage in countries like Poland, Romania, Bulgaria,” Pawlowska said. Considering that this is an issue within the competence of the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy, the letter was forwarded to the respective ministry for competent action”. Photo: EPA-EFE/OLIVIER HOSLET. Poland is to withdraw from a European treaty aimed at preventing violence against women, the country’s justice minister announced on Saturday. Conservative forces in Poland, both inside and outside the government, are stepping up efforts in the region to reject the 2011 Council of Europe Convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention, and potentially replace it with another treaty that seeks to boost the rights of ‘traditional families’ at the expense of sexual minorities, BIRN can reveal. Ziegler adds that countries like those in CEE which signed the Istanbul Convention but have not yet ratified it are still bound by international law not to take any measures that would defeat the object and purpose of the Istanbul Convention. In our response, we presented the position of the Ministry of Justice, that the Istanbul Convention is an important international legal act in the field of preventing and combating violence against women and within family,” the statement continued. “For us, this would be a great opportunity geopolitically: to create a Central European alliance among those countries which, despite enormous pressure from the EU, have not ratified the Istanbul Convention. “This is a private thing written by an NGO that they promoted to a member state, Poland, which hasn’t even adopted it into its legal order before it started shopping around for allies,” Datta said. Topics Covered: Issues related to women. The Istanbul Convention, a document by the Council of Europe for fighting gender-based violence, has been signed by Lithuania back in 2011, but not yet ratified due to opposition from religious groups. In 2018, bishops from Central and Eastern Europe had already called on their respective governments “to refuse the ratification of the Istanbul Protocol, or to revoke the signature”. “The [Ordo Iuris] convention blends legal rules and principles which are contained in other instruments [for example, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child] which are, at least at a general level, uncontroversial and unobjectionable with very problematic and controversial concepts which are slipped in – like a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Ziegler told BIRN, pointing to references to the notion of ‘natural family’, the commitment not to recognise the legal effects of same-sex relationships and to a number of vague paragraphs that could be aimed at limiting or prohibiting abortion. The decision came during the life-time of the liberal administration led by the Civic Platform (PO). Will other leaders take it? “Leaving the Istanbul Convention would be highly regrettable and a major step backwards in the protection of women against violence in Europe,” Ms Pejcinovic Buric tweeted. “It is significant that this has not been triggered in an international forum, but as the ‘grassroots’ activity of one state outside of a multilateral forum (the UN or Council of Europe, for example), which is now looking for allies,” Ziegler said. While presented as an alternative to the Istanbul Convention, the Ordo Iuris proposal also includes articles about same-sex partnerships and abortion – topics that are important for its authors but are not included in the Istanbul Convention. While Datta is sceptical Ordo Iuris will be able to get enough governments to sign up to the alternative convention, he admits that efforts to promote it might be useful in preventing the ratification of the Istanbul Convention by the EU or blocking further European progress on LGBT and women’s rights in general. Surprisingly, once the preamble about the role of the family is over, the alternative convention copies numerous formulations from the original Istanbul Convention, particularly when it comes to the mechanisms of combatting domestic violence. This is the only thing that can be communicated at the moment. For example, Article 9 says signatory states “do not recognise the legal effects of same-sex relationships… entered into any form whatsoever, either internally or abroad” and “cannot be required to take any measures facilitating same-sex relationships abroad”; Article 37 asks countries to cooperate to ensure criminal liability for those performing illegal abortions; Article 14 calls on public authorities to “not affect, in any way, the reduction of fertility or make it difficult for families to have children” – an unclear formulation which could be later interpreted to mean restricting legal abortion. The two Polish groups already have a draft convention to replace the Istanbul Convention, the text for which was prepared by Ordo Iuris in cooperation with former MEP Marek Jurek (Jurek is one of those in the frame to become Poland’s next Ombudsman). Days before Ziobro’s announcement on July 27, the Polish ultra-conservative groups Ordo Iuris and the Christian Social Congress launched their “Family – yes, Gender – no” initiative. Provisional timetable for the first (baseline) evaluation 2016-20 (revised on 29/06/2017), HELP online Course on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, Istanbul ConventionAction against violence against women and domestic violence, Steps in the first (baseline) evaluation procedure, HELP online course on Violence against Women, Poland should not withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, says Secretary General. “And they do change the political mood,” he added. He said there are people claiming that opposing the Istanbul Convention also means being against the protection of victims, which he called "a downright lie". People take part in a protest against Poland’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on July 27, 2020, in Krakow. “We have signals that the countries which have not ratified the Istanbul Convention are waiting for us,” said Lidia Grabczuk, a spokesperson for the right-wing politician and former MEP Marek Jurek, who heads the Christian Social Congress, referring to the fact the convention remains unratified by 13 signatories, including Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Lithuania. As of March 2019, it has been signed by 45 countries and the European Union. Zbigniew Ziobro said the document, known as the Istanbul Convention, was According to Karolina Pawlowska, director of the international law centre at Ordo Iuris, “many other organisations from across Europe” contributed to this Convention on the Rights of the Family. Poland signed the Istanbul Convention for the prevention and combating of violence against women and domestic violence in 2015. “This content is addressed by the Istanbul Convention, to which the Republic of Slovenia has also acceded. For these reasons, ultra-conservatives in Poland and beyond have, for years, been railing against the document, which they argue will destroy the “traditional family” (i.e., heterosexual married couples with children) by imposing so-called “gender ideology” – an umbrella term created by these groups which seems to refer primarily to LGBT and reproductive rights. Will Poland withdraw from Istanbul Convention? Marlena Malag, the country's family, labor and social policies minister, announced last week Poland was preparing to withdraw from the treaty, while those who support the convention held rallies, reacting to the announcement. The dispute over the Istanbul Convention hit the headlines earlier this summer when hardline Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro filed an official request with the Ministry for Family, Work and Social Policy, asking it to initiate proceedings for withdrawing the country from the Istanbul Convention. The Istanbul Convention is the Council of Europe‘s key international treaty to combat violence against women and domestic violence - and that is its sole objective. Lithuania: Row over Istanbul Convention and LGBT After the liberal-conservative coalition in Lithuania put the Istanbul Convention and a law on the legalisation of civil partnerships between LGBT people on the agenda in autumn, the debate has now escalated. The Istanbul Convention has long been a target for populists who endorse the Minister’s spurious claim it poses a threat to “traditional family values.” In Poland, the situation for women and girls may become even more dangerous after the country’s Minister of Justice, announced last weekend a proposal to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention The Covid-19 pandemic has shown how vulnerable women are to domestic violence. We could be a pioneer in creating a strong voice in favour of ‘yes’ to the natural family and ‘no’ to gender,” said Grabczuk. This is a fake convention.”, Datta points out that a real treaty, as is the case with the Istanbul Convention, emerges from within a legal order like that of the Council of Europe after being supported by member states. “The idea of our convention is to defend those countries which try to preserve the natural social order based on the ‘natural family’ from this ideological dictate,” she affirmed. This aims to collect 100,000 signatures to file a citizen’s initiative draft law with the Polish parliament, which would request the president pull out of the Istanbul Convention and the government create a team to write the text of an international convention on family rights. Finally, the Slovenian Justice Ministry also confirmed receiving the letter, adding that it already sent back a negative reply to the Polish side. “Leaving the Istanbul Convention would be highly regrettable and a major step backward in the protection of women against violence in Europe,” he tweeted. The authors say that the causes of violence are not related to structural gender inequality, but rather “pathologies”, among which are alcoholism, pornography, social atomisation, the breakdown of family ties and the sexualisation of women in the public space. Istanbul Convention contains ‘elements of an ideological nature, which we consider harmful,’ justice minister says. Were the EU as a whole to ratify the Istanbul Convention, even those member states which have not ratified it themselves – Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania – would have to implement it. To achieve this, it was undertaking “diplomatic activities, above all bilateral talks with representatives of countries which could be interested in joining this initiative.”. Marlena Maląg, Polish Minister for Family, Labor and Social Policy, said in a television interview that Poland could withdraw from the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention. Their alternative convention proposes measures to strengthen the role of traditional families in society, including reducing state interference in family life and giving parents more control over the education of their children. The reason behind withdrawal is that Poland thinks the Convention is harmful because it required schools to teach children about gender. Ziobro, known for his strict Catholic views, argued that the Istanbul Convention “takes aim at family, marriage and the currently functioning social culture when it comes to comprehending gender.”. Katja Ziegler, an international law professor at Leicester University who specialises in the intersection of legal orders, says that even if four countries ratify this alternative convention – the minimum envisaged by its authors for the convention to come into force – EU member states would still have to respect any EU legislation that potentially clashes with the new convention. Poland has begun diplomatic efforts in neighbouring countries to rally support for a “family rights convention” – initiated by ultra-conservatives and designed as a regional challenge to the Istanbul Convention and EU attempts to further LGBT and women’s rights. If successful, the push could lead to the creation of a regional alliance in Central and Eastern Europe, potentially blocking the expansion of LGBT and women’s rights in the EU and further antagonising relations with Brussels. Poland Begins Push in Region to Replace Istanbul Convention with “Family Rights” Treaty, resolutions against what they deride as “LGBT ideology”, well-documented network of ultra-conservative groups, had already called on their respective governments, Mass Arrest of LGBT People Marks Turning Point for Poland, Polish Activists Face Legal Action Over ‘Atlas of Hate’, European Commission Condemns Poland’s ‘LGBT-Free Zones’. What is included in this alternative family rights convention and how did it come about? In July 2018, Ordo Iuris claims it “was presented in the European Parliament”. (Anja Vladisavljevic in Zagreb, Marcel Gascón Barberá in Bucharest, Miroslava German Širotníková in Bratislava, and Nicholas Watson in Prague contributed to this article.). At the time, Morawiecki referred to the Istanbul Convention as an “ideological” document and said the Polish government “shared some of the apprehensions” of its critics. What’s the issue? A spokesperson for the Czech Justice Ministry told BIRN: “The Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic received the letter. Therefore, we see no reason for a different regime that the one that is regulated by the Istanbul Convention.”. So while they haven’t necessarily been successful in rolling back LGBT rights, they have managed to stop advances that could have otherwise happened.”. Image Credits: Notes From Poland Protests have been taking place in Warsaw, Poland mainly by women on the party’s decision to retract from the treaty which provided protection to women against domestic abuse.
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