Czech Republic Withdraws from Istanbul Convention

The Czech Republic has decided to withdraw from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention.The Czech government's decision to withdraw from the convention, which was signed in 2016 but not ratified, has been reported. The approval process initiated by former Prime Minister Petr Fiala in 2023 was canceled, and the Czech Republic has thus withdrawn from the convention.The Czech Senate also rejected the approval of the Istanbul Convention in a vote in January 2024, thus vetoing the convention. It was stated that many senators objected to some of the expressions in the convention text. The Czech Republic ended the approval process due to the use of the concept of 'social gender' instead of biological gender in the convention.The Istanbul Convention was adopted at the 121st meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers in Istanbul in 2011. The European Union signed the convention on June 13, 2017, while Russia and Azerbaijan refused to sign it. The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, Armenia, and Bulgaria signed the convention but did not bring it into force.Some articles of the Istanbul Convention have caused debates in Turkey regarding gender equality and the harm to traditional family values, and Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention in 2021.