The Convention on the Rights of the Family – Real Alternative or “Fake Convention”?

Abstract

In 2018, the Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture (OII), an ultra-conservative civil society organisation in Poland, published a draft of the “Convention on the Rights of the Family”. According to the OII, the convention “codifies the fundamental values underpinning all civilised societies” and also contains “rules to combat all forms of violence, including domestic violence”. The CRF was initiated to substitute the “Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence”, commonly known as the Istanbul Convention. This article outlines the origin of the CRF and the replacement procedure with regard to the Istanbul Convention. It then summarises the reasons for drafting the CRF, including the criticism of the Istanbul Convention. The second part assesses the extent to which the CRF protects the right of women to live a life free of violence. Supporters of the CRF suggest that it offers better protection than the Istanbul Convention. They base this thesis on the argument that the alternative convention incorporates all the “good” provisions of the Istanbul Convention and additionally strengthens the “family”, which they purport to most effectively protect its members from violence. The article explains that these claims are false and that violence against women and its underlying causes do not find appropriate consideration in the CRF, leading to a lower level of protection compared to the Istanbul Convention. The third part shows that the ratification of the CRF would further lead to non-compliance with several international human rights treaties. It is concluded that the CRF is thus not a serious alternative to the Istanbul Convention.