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50. In the light of the increasing emphasis that the Council of Europe and the Assembly place on cooperation with neighbouring countries in the southern Mediterranean and Asia, where violence against women is a widespread problem, it would be important to underscore the far-reaching character of the Istanbul Convention, and invite countries from these regions to manifest an interest in acceding to it.
51. At the same time, the Council of Europe and the Assembly should strengthen their already excellent partnership and cooperation with UN Women, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and many others in order to promote knowledge of the convention and possibly its signature by other states in the world. The Assembly should also take a similar stance in its relations with other regional parliamentary assemblies.
7. Conclusions and recommendations 52. With the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, the Council of Europe has, once again, confirmed its pioneering role as a standard-setting organisation in the area of human rights. This convention provides the most comprehensive framework in the world to prevent violence against women, protect its victims, prosecute the perpetrators and set up a wide range of measures to address this scourge in all its complexity.
53. The convention should be commended first of all for the strong political messages that it delivers, namely that violence against women is a human rights violation which inevitably leads to others, such as the right to dignity, life, security, freedom, physical and emotional integrity, and therefore makes equal opportunities for women and men impossible to achieve. It also clearly states that violence against women cannot be tolerated, whether it happens in the family or outside, and that it can never be justified or excused on the basis of any cultural, historical or religious argument.
54. Moreover, the convention should be praised as a legal instrument setting high and progressive standards, with particular regard to its broad personal and material scope, its victim-centred approach, the obligation of criminalisation, effective investigation and prosecution of the forms of violence covered by the convention, and its strong, independent and innovative monitoring mechanism.
55. However, recognising its value, praising and commending it are not enough. This convention has the potential to save and change the lives of millions of women who are victims of violence because of their gender, and millions of other victims of domestic violence. 56. The Parliamentary Assembly should put all its political weight behind promoting the signature and ratification of the convention by as many states as possible and within the shortest possible time-frame, so that it can enter into force and have a real impact in the achievement of de iure and de facto gender equality. 1 Reference to committee: Doc. 12656, Reference 3788 of 24 June 2011.
2 Draft resolution adopted unanimously by the committee on 8 December 2011.
3 Amongst them, it is worth recalling: Recommendation 1450 (2000) on violence against women in Europe, Resolution 1327 (2003) on so-called “honour crimes”, Recommendation 1723 (2005) on forced and child marriages, Recommendation 1777 (2007) on sexual assaults linked to “date-rape drugs”, Resolution 1247 (2007) on female genital mutilation, Resolution 1582 (2007) on domestic violence, Resolution 1691 (2009) on rape of women including marital rape and Resolution 1654 (2009) on feminicides.
4 Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers on the protection of women against violence.
5 See point 9 of the Warsaw Declaration, www.coe.int/t/dcr/summit/20050517_decl_varsovie_EN.asp/.
6 www.coe.int/t/pace/campaign/stopviolence/default_EN.asp/.
7 www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/violence/CAHVIO_2009_1%20Terms%20of%20reference.pdf.
8 www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/minjust/mju29/CASE%20OF%20OPUZ%20v[1].%20TURKEY.pdf.
9 Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Ukraine.
10 www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/recomm.htm.
11 Ibid.
12 www.oas.org/en/CIM/docs/Belem-do-Para[EN].pdf.
13 www.achpr.org/english/_info/women_en.html.
14 Article 5.
15 Article 12.