Zelensky proposes to ratify the Istanbul Convention — the Verkhovna Rada is already considering a bill

President Volodymyr Zelensky introduced to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a bill №0157 on ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

According to the explanatory note, the President proposes to ratify the Istanbul Convention to implement international standards in Ukrainian legislation in preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

The Ukrainian Pravda media outlet says that some EU member states have voiced the requirement to ratify the Istanbul Convention in private as a precondition for approving EU candidate status.

Earlier, the Ukrainians had already signed two petitions calling on the President of Ukraine to introduce a bill on ratification of the Istanbul Convention gathering the required 25,000 signatures.

In response to the second petition, Zelensky said he had instructed Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry to finalize a package of documents on ratification of the Istanbul Convention. The President assured that after the package is ready, he will submit the ratification to the Verkhovna Rada.

Istanbul Convention

The Istanbul Convention is an international treaty of the Council of Europe, which as of January 2020, has been signed by more than 35 countries of the European Union. Ukraine was one of the authors of the Convention and was one of the first countries to sign it (in 2011) but has not yet ratified it.

The importance of the Convention is that it is the first international legislative act designed to protect women’s rights both in peaceful times and during wars.

According to the National Social Service of Ukraine, in 2021, bodies and institutions that oppose domestic violence recorded more than 284 thousand complaints of domestic violence.

The largest number of reports about domestic violence came from women — 233,210. Most cases were in Kyiv (36,114), Dnipropetrovsk (24,174) and Lviv (21,198) Oblast.