The Czech government agreed to give the green light to ratify the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence on Wednesday, sending the document to the Chamber of Deputies for a decision.
The Czech Republic is among a minority of six EU countries, including Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania, that have not yet ratified the document. The Czech Republic is the only country from the group where the debate on the convention is moving towards adoption.
“We have approved the ratification of the Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Violence at the governing cabinet meeting. Any step that helps prevent sexualised violence and violence against women is a good step,” Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) tweeted after Wednesday’s government meeting.
“The Convention should also contribute to the more sensitive treatment of victims. I hope that it will soon pass the Chamber of Deputies,” Rakušan added.
The Czech Republic signed the Istanbul convention in 2016, but parliament was never allowed to vote on it until now.
Whether the document will pass parliament remains uncertain as the current Czech five-party coalition government remains divided, while centrist parties – STAN, Czech Pirates (Greens/EFA affiliated) and TOP 09 (EPP affiliated) – favour it and the parties ODS (ECR affiliated) and KDU-ČSL (EPP affiliated) are primarily against it.
To make predictions even harder, the MPs have diverse views, even within individual political parties.
The Istanbul Convention
The Istanbul Convention was adopted in 2011 and signed in 2016 under the previous Czech government of Andrej Babis (ANO). It provoked strong emotions in the Czech Republic, rejected by conservatives and seven Christian churches.
Its proponents say it will help improve aid to victims and send a message that violence is unacceptable. Previous governments postponed its ratification due to controversy over the wording of the document. Some current ministers have called for the ratification to be postponed again.
In its policy statement, the present coalition government declared that the convention will secure better protection of victims of sexual and domestic violence.
The Convention condemns domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape, forced marriage, so-called honour crimes and genital mutilation. It points out that women are much more likely to be victims of domestic and sexual violence than men, as well as victims of mass rape in armed conflicts.
The document sees violence against women as a violation of human rights and discrimination. In the Convention, states commit to enacting measures against violence, securing prevention, and allocating money for services, among other things. Training for health workers, police officers and judges is also included.
According to data from the national domestic violence prevention plan, the Czech Republic loses at least 14.5 billion crowns each year due to attacks in households, as a result of absence from work and healthcare treatment.
About 600 cases of rape are reported to the police per year, and surveys indicate that this is about 5% of all cases.
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