Poland Must Not Withdraw from the Istanbul Convention

That the Parliament notes with concern the Polish Government's expressed plan to withdraw the country from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, which is also known as the Istanbul Convention; recognises that the Convention, which was ratified in 2015, is based on the understanding that violence against women is a form of gender-based violence committed against women because they are women and obligates member states to fully address it in all its forms and to take measures to prevent it, protect its victims and prosecute the perpetrators; is aware that, if Poland was to withdraw, this could effectively legalise violence against women, including marital rape and female genital mutilation; believes that this move is part of an extremely worrying agenda promoting the regression of women’s and gay rights in Poland under its recently re-elected PiS-administration, which, it understands, campaigned on a platform of anti-gay policies, with the Justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, previously calling the Convention “an invention, a feminist creation aimed at justifying gay ideology”; acknowledges the impact it believes that Poland’s withdrawal could have on the lives and safety of women, and urges President Andrzej Duda, the Justice minister and the Polish Government, to reconsider the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention.