Foreign
SLOVAKIA’s government is pushing to prevent the ratification of a European agreement to stop violence against women, in what the head of the Council of Europe called a “regrettable step backwards’’.
Marija Buric, the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe made his thoughts known in a statement on Friday.
“European governments should do more to end violence against women, not less,” she said.
The Slovak parliament in Bratislava voted with a large majority in support of a bill calling to use “all possibilities” to stop the so-called Istanbul Convention coming into force.
The proposal was put forward by lawmakers from Slovakia’s SNS party, and got a majority of votes with support from the extreme-right party LSNS and most of the lawmakers from the social democratic governing party Smer.
The convention aims to prevent and fight against violence against women and domestic violence and would also be valid in Slovakia.
Bratislava agreed to the convention in 2011, but opposition from conservative circles and from the politically influential Catholic Church has prevented it being ratified.
On the same day, the Council of Europe urged all of its members to sign up to the convention, in a post on Facebook.
Buric said that 34 of the 47 members of the council had ratified it. (dpa/NAN)
– Nov. 29, 2019 @ 12:55 GMT |
Tags: Slovakia votes to reject EU convention on violence against women
