What is the Istanbul Convention?

The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence is a convention that was opened for signature in Istanbul on 11 May 2011 and entered into force in 2014, and is known as the Istanbul Convention because it was opened for signature in Istanbul. Among the countries that have signed the convention are Turkey, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland. As of July 2020, the convention has been signed by 46 countries and the European Union.

 The aim of the Istanbul Convention is to protect women against all forms of violence, to prevent violence against women and domestic violence; to contribute to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and

to promote substantial equality between women and men, including the empowerment of women; and to promote international co-operation to eliminate violence against women and domestic violence. In this context, States Parties are expected to prevent violence against women in both public and private spheres; to promote the right to life; and to take the necessary legislative and other measures to address violence against women and domestic violence.

 States Parties should pursue specific policies to prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women. These policies include providing financial resources to prevent domestic violence; ensuring the establishment of

non-governmental organisations, encouraging non-governmental organisations to work in this field, cooperating with

non-governmental organisations; collecting data and conducting research on incidents of violence; conducting activities for the prevention of violence, raising awareness, increasing trainings in this direction, training professional staff to contact victims one-to-one and provide effective services, establishing preventive intervention and treatment programmes, ensuring that the private sector and the media work in a way to increase women’s dignity and prevent violence; providing shelter and telephone hotlines.

 Turkey was the first country to sign the convention on 12 March 2012. Pursuant to Article 90 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, duly recognised

international treaties have the force of law. No claim of unconstitutionality can be made against them, and in cases where duly enacted conventions and laws contain different provisions on the same subject, the international convention shall prevail in matters relating to fundamental rights and freedoms. International treaties are binding on the parties in accordance with the principle of fidelity. They are also binding agreements for domestic law.

Turkey has carried out important activities to increase the effectiveness of the Istanbul Convention in practice. One of the most important of these is the Law No. 6284 on the Protection of the Family and Prevention of Violence against Women adopted on 8 March 2012. Under this law, it has been tried to facilitate the access of victims to the judiciary, law enforcement agencies and many judicial and administrative units they need. Establishing the ALO 183 hotline and establishing Violence Monitoring and Prevention Centres are among Turkey’s prevention and protection activities within the scope of the Istanbul Convention.