II SÉRIE-D — NÚMERO 7

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Many Council of Europe member States have also declared their commitment to ratify and implement the

Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, the so-called

Istanbul Convention.

2013: a year of no return

By now, 32 Council of Europe member States have signed this Convention. Eight of them have deposited

the ratification instrument.

Let me mention these eight countries: Turkey, Albania, my own country – Portugal, Montenegro, Italy,

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia – who deposited only the day before yesterday - and last but not least,

Austria.

I wish to congratulate the authorities of these countries for having made a strong political statement by

giving priority to this issue. Some of them concluded the ratification process in record time, despite having been

through elections and changes of government, or despite being federal countries, and therefore having

complex procedures for the ratification of international treaties.

All of them concluded the ratification process despite the lingering shadow of the economic crisis and the

constraints it places on national budgets.

The ratification of the Convention is currently being examined by the parliaments of France and Spain. The

Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination held an exchange of views with the French Minister of Women’

Rights last June, and with the Spanish Commissioner on gender-based violence in September. We were

assured of the commitment of these two countries to take firm and strong action to end violence against

women.

And Andorra is also expected to conclude the ratification process very soon.

On this respect, I must announce that I will make an oral amendment to paragraph 5 of the draft resolution,

as we need to update the reference to the member Estates that already deposited the instrument of ratification

in Strasbourg. Bosnia & Herzegovina, Austria and Serbia did it also, since we drafted this resolution some time

ago.

I LIKE TO THINK THAT, 2013 WILL NOT ONLY BE A TURNING POINT BUT A POINT OF NO RETURN IN

THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, ESPECIALLY IN EUROPE.

This is because I am CONFIDENT that the 10 ratifications which are necessary for the entry into force of the

Istanbul Convention will be achieved before the end of this year!

And also, because I can see a new dynamism.

In Europe, the interaction between the pressure created by the Commission on the Status of Women and

the debate over the signature and ratification of the Istanbul Convention is starting to make a breach in the wall.

This is clear from the increased attention that politicians are devoting to violence against women, the

number of NGO and civil society initiatives – including the collection of signatures and petitions in support of

new legislation–, and the visibility that it has had in the media.

Some major newspapers and television channels such as The Guardian, El País, Il Corriere della Sera,

BBC and Rai are now reporting on violence against women and intimate partner violence on a regular basis. In

doing so, they no longer describe it as a succession of punctual and isolated episodes, but as a major social

problem which needs to be tackled.

This is crucial to changing people’s mindsets. Without a change of mindset the law by itself cannot have any

durable impact.

The dual mandate

I have thanked the authorities of the countries that have ratified the Istanbul Convention.

But the members of this Assembly who have played a key role in promoting the Istanbul Convention at

national level deserve special thanks.

Ms Wurm in Austria, Ms Dervoz in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ms Mogherini and Ms Bergamini in Italy, Ms

Djurovic in Serbia, only to mention a few of them, have acted as ambassadors of the Istanbul Convention, as

lobbyists, as advocates, as witnesses, as whips!