In Istanbul, on 11 May 2011, at the 121st Session of the Committee of Ministers, the Council of Europe opened for signature the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, CETS No. 210. The English and French texts are equally authentic; a single copy remains in the Organisation’s archives. Article 75 opens it to member States, non-member States that took part in its drafting, and the European Union. Thirteen States signed on the opening day, among them Turkey, through Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, in the presence of Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland, together with Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.

In December 2008 the Committee of Ministers set up the ad hoc committee CAHVIO, which prepared a draft through December 2010. The Ministers’ Deputies adopted the text on 7 April 2011. This convention is not Recommendation Rec(2002)5, nor the 2009 CAHVIO draft, nor that April adoption.

Article 1 sets the purposes: to protect women against all forms of violence and to prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence; to contribute to eliminating discrimination and to promote substantive equality; to design a comprehensive framework of policies; to promote international co-operation; and to support an integrated approach by the authorities. Article 2 applies the convention in peacetime and in armed conflict. Article 3 defines violence against women as a human-rights violation and a form of discrimination, and domestic violence as physical, sexual, psychological or economic acts within the family, the domestic unit, or between current or former spouses or partners.

The 81 articles, in twelve chapters, follow four axes: prevention, protection, prosecution and integrated policies. Parties must criminalise psychological violence, stalking, physical violence, sexual violence including rape based on lack of consent, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and forced abortion and sterilisation; sexual harassment is to be subject to criminal or other legal sanction. Article 42 rules out so-called “honour” as a justification. Article 5 requires due diligence in respect of acts by non-State actors. Articles 22 and 23 require specialist support services and shelters.

Article 66 establishes GREVIO, the expert group that monitors implementation: between ten and fifteen members, elected by the Committee of the Parties for four years, renewable once. The first election of ten members is to be held within a year of entry into force; five more after the 25th ratification. Article 11 requires disaggregated statistical data and research.

Article 75 provides that the convention enters into force on the first day of the month following the expiry of three months after ten signatories, including at least eight Council of Europe member States, have expressed consent to be bound. Turkey deposited the first ratification in March 2012. The threshold was met so that the convention took effect on 1 August 2014. The Istanbul opening is neither that entry into force nor the European Union’s accession in 2023.

Article 80 allows denunciation by notification to the Secretary General, effective on the first day of the month following three months. Turkey denounced the convention on 20 March 2021; it ceased to apply there on 1 July 2021. That withdrawal is not the 2011 event. Article 81 charges the Secretary General with notifying signatures, ratifications, reservations and denunciations.

Image: Ahmet Davutoğlu, 16 April 2010; Renato Araújo / Agência Brasil, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Istanbul Convention. Treaty text: CETS No. 210: Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.