We’ve waited long enough: it’s time for the Government to ratify the Istanbul Convention on violence against women

[stumbledin]

8 June 2021 marks nine years since the UK signed the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, the gold standard framework for tackling violence against women.

Despite repeated promises to ratify the Istanbul Convention from successive governments, the UK has so far failed to do so.

Whilst the UK claims to be a world leader in tackling violence against women, it is lagging behind 33 other countries that have already ratified the Convention. This comes amid public outcry about the soaring rates of violence against women in the UK and strong cross-party support for ratification in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

More at icchange.co.uk/8June21

So, how many women have we lost to violence in those nine years?

I had no idea we had signed up to something. A decade ago.

And older women who are murdered or raped aren't even in our stats.

And men get off with "rough sex gone wrong" defences.

And the women who can escape from being beaten or raped in their own homes get to a refuge which is run by a male person. This is how we look after our most vulnerable women?

FFS. Thank you for this, I can feel some emails coming on.

I'd completely lost sight of this. Given the upswing in VAWG during the pandemic, it's imperative that there is action on this public health menace.

I genuinely dont understand why they haven't ratified it. After all so much of what they do is tokenistic, you would think they wouldn't really mind, and would go ahead to score brownie points.

Worth noting that nine years later Turkey has withdrawn from the Istanbul Convention.