The Istanbul Convention and the Positive Obligation to Prevent Violence

Abstract

The positive obligation to prevent private acts of violence is still developing in international human rights law. The article discusses what preventive measures States are obliged to take against such violence under the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (‘the Istanbul Convention’). It examines the content of the obligation to prevent as well as what triggers it. This is exemplified by analysing the obligation under the Istanbul Convention to prevent honour-related violence. The article concludes that the triggers of the obligations to prevent and to protect differ and that the Istanbul Convention has the potential to influence the understanding in particular of the former obligation. However, first the Istanbul Convention’s monitoring body will have to clarify the extent to which primary prevention measures are required in response to individual risks of violence.