An Incentive for Women’s Rights: Reviving the Istanbul Convention Among EU Member States
by Delphi Cleaveland
March 28, 2020
“I thought, growing up, that the fight for equality was a linear fight. Just leading to ever better standards. But over the last five to ten years — probably also linked to the conflagration of crises we’ve had — things are moving backwards in many parts of the world. Sometimes religion is used as an argument, or tradition is used as an argument. Or indeed privilege is presented again as normality. But it’s happening. I would say on behalf of all of us: ‘Not on our watch.”
These were the words of Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, in his opening statement at the 2017 Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights, which focused on the theme “Women’s Rights in Turbulent Times.”
The Vice-President was referring to notable backsliding of women’s rights and protections within the EU and the Union’s attempts to promote them. The Colloquium aimed to address the issue of male privilege not as something to be taken away from men, but rather as privilege which can empower men and women equally across a society. In setting an agenda for women, the EU was on track to renew its commitments to the Istanbul Convention and further incentivize member states, as well as Eastern partners — such as Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Belarus — to work towards cohesive frameworks to address gender-based discrimination and violence. But, there is still work to be done.
The following blog will offer a brief history of the Istanbul Convention leading up to 2017 Colloquium and identify the main issues of concern laid out in the Colloquium’s conclusive report. Furthermore, it will examine recent developments that indicate some unresolved aspects of genuine rights protection. At the end I provide policy recommendations to more effectively protect the rights of women in EU member states and amongst its eastern partners as well.
The Istanbul Convention — a brief history
Since the 1990s, the Council of Europe has existed as a hard enforcer of human rights across the European Union and eastern European states. In 2011, the Council of Europe drafted the framework for a ‘Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence,’ in response to startling findings that revealed systemic gender inequality across Europe. The report revealed that EU member states too often lack adequate legislation for the protection of women from discrimination and domestic abuse. The resultant provisions, later referred to as the Istanbul Convention, sought to protect women from discrimination and violence by establishing collective policy infrastructure, hinging on accountability across signatories and national governments. In doing so, the Council of Ministers acknowledged their own shortcomings in following up with the mandates of previous conventions which also sought to safeguard against gender-based violence and discrimination across the European Union. The Istanbul Convention explicitly condemns all forms of violence against women, including psychological, physical, sexual, and nonconsensual abuse, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and forced abortion. In addition, the Convention established a “Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence” (GREVIO), to act as an independent expert body, tasked with implementing gender- and sexuality- sensitive education programs and monitoring the status of women across signatory states.
Though the Istanbul Convention — named after the Turkish city where it was first opened for signatures in May 2011 — did not receive the necessary minimum of 10 signatories for three years, due to disagreement over the text of the convention. To date, 34 states have signed and ratified the provisions of the Istanbul convention, though support for the Convention has wavered since then. Further, fifteen countries, including Ukraine, Moldova, and Hungary failed to ratify the convention. Limited access to comparative data on issues of violence against women has been cited as a considerable challenge: better access to this information would allow for more effective agency support to women across Europe and promote the importance of addressing discrimination and abuse of women.
In 2018, responding to the low numbers of ratification and the rise in #MeToo movements, the European Commission chose women’s rights as the topic of their Colloquium on Fundamental Human Rights. This event, held annually to gauge the status of rights and liberties of European citizens, examined the relationship between fundamental rights for women, pluralism, justice, and equality.
In July 2018, the Republic of Bulgaria, declared that the provisions of the Istanbul Convention were unconstitutional under their nation’s mandates. Bulgaria faced no consequences for this action. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has repeatedly stated that without unanimous consensus from his people, he refuses to sign, let alone ratify the Convention. With a large religiously conservative population and a constitution that condemns same-sex marriage, the rights of women are generally perceived to be the first step on a path to undesirable and socially liberal practices. Similar iterations of this sentiment have been echoed throughout many of the other more conservative Eastern European states.
Vice-President Timmermans acknowledged that Women’s Rights in Europe are under attack. Yet the ratification and implementation of the Istanbul Convention continues to face critical obstacles. Briefly listed: women lack agency and support in coming forward as victims of gender-based abuse; there is limited access for men and women to effective sexual and reproductive health education, and, consequently, women’s sexual and reproductive freedom; agents working in high risk regions to protect women and girls face discrimination; there is a lack of buy-in from men on a women’s rights agenda; and there is a dearth of disaggregated gender data across the European continent. The following recommendations seek to address some of the above-identified barriers and bolster the Istanbul Convention.
- Push for all EU member states to ratify the Istanbul Convention
The EU Commission should encourage all EU member states to ratify the Istanbul Convention by the end of 2020 (particularly as the covid epidemic is expected to disproportionately impact women more negatively than men). Due to the severity of infringements on women’s basic rights, the EU Commission should threaten economic sanctions and the removal of voting privileges against states unwilling to abide by Convention guidelines.
2. Remove obstacles to the work of women’s rights defenders
Amnesty International and practitioners in the field have said that the maltreatment of women’s rights’ defenders across Europe, particularly in the Eastern EU member states, is concerning. The EU Commission should take steps towards establishing legal frameworks to protect the rights of women’s defender groups who are presently subject to severe stigmatization and violence because of their work. To achieve this, the EU could: acknowledge the activists’ efforts, thereby further legitimizing their work; expand the protections for women’s advocates at the Commission level by granting them “protected class” status in certain regions; establish a women’s forum within the Council to focus on women’s issues.
3. Empower and expand the capacities of GREVIO
GREVIO requires additional financial support to ensure effective reporting on the status of women across Europe. The European Commission should mandate an increase in funding to GREVIO from all parties for the Istanbul Convention. This increase will ensure comprehensive data collection, increase monitoring capacities and, maximize the reach of their educational programs.
4. Change the legal definition of rape at the EU-level
GREVIO monitoring has revealed an alarming number of EU member states maintain force-based definitions of rape which require victims to prove coersion. First, the European Commission should change its legal definition of rape to one based on the absence of concent. Once this has taken place, the European Commission should encourage member states to adopt this new definition. This will empower and protect victims.
The fight for women’s rights is not a linear fight. The words of Vice-President Timmermans continue to ring true two years after the Colloquium on Fundamental Rights. They reflect the uphill battle, the convoluted cloud, and the socio-politically complex world of today in which the basic rights of women remain challenged by unequal systems of privilege. This year could mark a historic turning point with Ursula Von der Leyen as the first female President of the Commission, Helena Dali as EU Commissioner devoted entirely to the promotion of equality, and Ambassador Mara Marinaki as EU appointed principal advisor on gender. The time is now for leaders of Europe to take serious measures towards the support of women and the dismantling of misogyny through universal ratification of the Istanbul Convention.
Delphi Cleaveland is an M.A. Candidate in German and European Studies with a focus on women, peace and security at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
You might also enjoy this episode of The Europe Desk podcast, in which scholars from Georgetown’s BMW Center for German and European Studies reviewed a recent lecture series on women’s movements and gender politics over the last century:
