FOCUS HUMAN RIGHTS Attack on the Istanbul Convention Michaela Lissowsky ANALYSIS Imprint Publisher Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit Truman Haus Karl-Marx-Straße 2 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg Germany /freiheit.org /FriedrichNaumannStiftungFreiheit /FNFreiheit Authors Michaela Lissowsky Senior Advisor Human Rights & Rule of Law Editor Global Themes Unit Contact Phone: +49 30 22 01 26 34 Fax: +49 30 69 08 81 02 email: [email protected] Date December 2020 Notes on using this publication This publication is an information offer of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. It is available free of charge and not intended for sale. It may not be used by parties or election workers for the purpose of election advertising during election campaigns (federal, state or local government elections, or European Parliament elections). FOCUS HUMAN RIGHTS 3 Table of contents Abstract _______________________________________________________________________________ 4 Pro-Family Policy vs. human rights of individuals ______________________________________ 4 Impact of the Istanbul Convention _____________________________________________________ 4 Domestic Violence Against Women in Germany ________________________________________ 6 Europe: Threatening to withdraw and resisting the Istanbul Convention ________________ 6 Hungary ______________________________________________________________________________ 6 Poland _______________________________________________________________________________ 6 Turkey ________________________________________________________________________________ 7 Counterstrategy: Women’s rights within the family _____________________________________ 7 Gender equality within the family ______________________________________________________ 7 Conclusion and recommendations _____________________________________________________ 8 FOCUS HUMAN RIGHTS 4 Abstract Domestic violence targeting woman is a phenomenon that countries threatening to withdraw from the Istanbul not only exists in societies in which traditional notions of Convention once again highlights that ultraconservative gender relations or autocratic structures are prevalent. and populist forces leverage stereotypical roles of women With this in mind, this edition of Human Rights in Focus on to knowingly exclude them from political discourse, domestic violence against women also looks at the status discriminate against them and deprive them of their quo in Germany. Human rights policy always needs to look human rights. from the inside outwards to be credible, lest it be seen as preaching. Poland, Turkey and countless other European targeted pro-family policy in the UN Human Rights Council. Pro-Family Policy Women’s rights activists should be prepared and ready to publicly debate the importance of equality of women within the family. vs. human rights of individuals Impact of the In summer 2020, Poland and Turkey announcing their withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention caught the Istanbul Convention attention of women and women rights activists across Europe and the world. The Istanbul Convention — or Detractors from the churches and politics oppose the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating three core milestones of the Istanbul Convention. This violence against women and domestic violence – was agreement is the first to define violence against women as passed in 2011 and entered into force in 2014. Violence a breach of human rights and a type of discrimination against women is a global issue exacerbated by the against women: Corona pandemic. Domestic violence is mostly perpetrated by their partner in their own home – in the “‘Violence against women’ is understood as a violation of European Union, too, as a comprehensive 2014 survey by human rights and a form of discrimination against women the European Agency for Fundamental Rights has shown.1 and shall mean all acts of gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or A targeted political aim which has hitherto remained economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of largely unnoticed informs Poland’s and Turkey’s intention such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, to leave and drives member states of the Council of Europe whether occurring in public or in private life.”3 such as Hungary, Bulgaria and others to resist: The attempt to turn the traditional family into a bearer of rights In addition to women, the Convention also includes girls and responsibilities under international law – a concept younger than 18. Any acts ranging from coercion, which remains unaccepted in international law. This is intimidation, sexual harassment to rape are read as acts of intended as a conduit to restrict the individual rights of violence against women. Violence is defined in very broad women and to undo the progress which has been achieved terms: It encompasses cause physical, sexual and through the Istanbul Convention. At the same time, it is a psychological harm, but also economic damage. Often, not targeted move to strengthen so-called ‘traditional values’ only women affected themselves suffer from the and reverse gender equality. Support for such approaches traumatic consequences of beatings, sexual assault and is developing chiefly in Eastern Europe and within the even rape; rather, their family members and society as a churches. After Poland announcing its withdrawal from whole, too, does. The societal and economic the Istanbul Convention, the Deutsche Frauenrat (National consequences of domestic violence are rarely considered. Council of German Women’s Organizations) called to They affect the healthcare system and cause absence ‘prevent this dam burst’.2 However, Russia has been from work, lower productivity and lost wages. To look at chiselling away at this dam for years by pursuing a 1 FRA, Violence against women: an EU-wide survey, 2014. Istanbul Convention] In: https://www.frauenrat.de/den- 2 dammbruch-verhindern-die-istanbul-konvention- Deutscher Frauenrat (ed.) (2020a): Den Dammbruch staerken/ (19 August 2020). verhindern – die Istanbul-Konvention stärken. [Precenting the dam from bursting: Strengthening the 3 Art. 3(a), Istanbul Convention. FOCUS HUMAN RIGHTS 5 the economic damage is not to trivialise the phenomenon, discrimination against women and to provide protection void of empathy, but rather serves to better understand the and support of those affected and enable prosecution of underestimated dimensions of domestic violence against perpetrators through a comprehensive range of political women. UN Women research indicates, for instance, that and other measures. Within the scope of a holistic violence in 2016 the cost of violence against women amounted to protection strategy, the signatories subscribe to US$1.5 trillion or around 2% of the global GDP.4 offensively tackle all forms of gender-based violence. The agreement obliges all these states to establish The Istanbul Convention defines domestic violence not comprehensive measures in all areas, ranging from merely as affecting women and girls, but rather highlights prevention to support to criminal, civil and laws on foreign that men, too, can be affected. The second milestone of residents.6 the Istanbul Convention emphasizes that gender-based violence transcends binary framings of men and women term definition by re-defining the term ‘gender’. femicide the killing of women and girls on account of their gender, perpetrated or “‘gender’ shall mean the socially constructed roles, tolerated by both private and public actors behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men;” domestic all acts of physical, sexual, violence psychological or economic violence This is an attempt to purposefully counter stereotypes. To that occur within the family or overcome gender-specific roles, customs and traditions domestic unit, irrespective of are to be challenged. Religious motivations or matters of biological or legal family ties, or honour cannot ever be accepted to justify acts of violence between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrated against women. The drafters of the Istanbul perpetrator shares or has shared the Convention assumed that combatting traditional gender same residence as the victim roles and stereotypes was the only way to mend existing inequality between men and women. violation of human rights and a form of violence discrimination against women As the third milestone, the Istanbul Convention condemns against including all acts of gender-based gender-based violence against women employed women violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, specifically as discrimination. “(V)iolence that is directed psychological or economic harm or against a woman because she is a woman or that affects suffering to women, including threats women disproportionately.” This represents a normative of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary progress against the backdrop of earlier legal readings of deprivation of liberty, whether the UN Women’s Rights Convention.5 The cause of acts of occurring in public or in private life violence against women this way is clearly traced back to Source: European Institute for Gender Equality 2020a7,b8,c9 power inequalities between men and women, given that gender-based violence against women is frequently rooted in the socioeconomical and cultural structures of a society. The Convention aims to protect those affected from violence, contribute