Istanbul Convention: the right to life without violence

Abstract

The Convention of the Council of Europe on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, or as it is also called the Istanbul Convention, is an international document that imposes absolute obligations on the signatory states regarding those who experience violence. Violence against women is systemic throughout the world and is measured in hundreds of thousands of cases per year in countries. The convention defines that absolutely all types of violence are a violation of basic human rights and freedoms. Thus, this document obliges state authorities to develop a comprehensive strategy to support and protect people who have experienced violence and to punish those responsible for such acts. The Istanbul Convention is the first international legal document on the prevention of gender-based violence. The starting point for this convention is the thesis that de facto and legal equality between men and women is an important component for preventing violence against women in particular. The article is devoted to proving the need for Ukraine to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence and Combating These Phenomena (Istanbul Convention). The article examines issues related to the general policy of the state, which is aimed at eradicating gender-based violence, which is confirmed by the relevant regulatory and legal acts. Also, the focus is on preventing and combating domestic violence, due to which some forms of violence against women do not get the attention they deserve. Despite the positive changes in Ukrainian legislation aimed at criminalizing domestic violence and crimes related to domestic violence, not all acts stipulated by the Istanbul Convention have been criminalized. Also, the practice of applying special measures against domestic violence indicates serious problems in the field of law enforcement. There are also certain gaps in the protection of persons who have suffered from gender-based and domestic violence, which indicates an insufficiently developed state mechanism for providing assistance to such persons. Ratification of the Istanbul Convention in Ukraine took place 11 years after its signing. After all, there were quite a few obstacles that delayed this process.