Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence

Istanbul convention
Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence
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Signed	11 May 2011
Location	Istanbul
Effective	1 August 2014
Condition	10 ratifications of which 8 from Council of Europe members
Signatories	43
Ratifiers	22
Depositary	Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Languages	English and French

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) is a Council of Europe convention against violence against women and domestic violence which was opened for signature on 11 May 2011, in Istanbul, Turkey. The convention aims at prevention of violence, victim protection and "to end with the impunity of perpetrators". As of May 2016, it has been signed by 43 countries. On 12 March 2012, Turkey became the first country to ratify the Convention, followed by twenty one other countries from 2013 to 2016 (Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden). The Convention came into force on 1 August 2014.

The Council of Europe has undertaken a series of initiatives to promote the protection of women against violence since the 1990s. In particular, these initiatives have resulted in the adoption, in 2002, of the Council of Europe Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence, and the running of a Europe-wide campaign, from 2006-2008, to combat violence against women, including domestic violence. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has also taken a firm political stance against all forms of violence against women. It has adopted a number of resolutions and recommendations calling for legally-binding standards on preventing, protecting against and prosecuting the most severe and widespread forms of gender-based violence.

National reports, studies and surveys revealed the magnitude of the problem in Europe. The campaign in particular showed a large variation in Europe of national responses to violence against women and domestic violence. Thus the need for harmonised legal standards to ensure that victims benefit from the same level of protection everywhere in Europe became apparent. The Ministers of Justice of Council of Europe member states began discussing the need to step up protection from domestic violence, in particular intimate partner violence.

The Council of Europe decided it was necessary to set comprehensive standards to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence. In December 2008, the Committee of Ministers set up an expert group mandated to prepare a draft convention in this field. Over the course of just over two years, this group, called the CAHVIO (Ad Hoc Committee for preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence), worked out a draft text. During the later stage of drafting of the convention, UK, Italy, Russia and the Holy See proposed several amendments to limit the requirements provided by the Convention. These amendments were criticized by Amnesty International. The final draft of the convention was produced in December 2010.

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