The Czech government agreed to give the green light to ratify the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence on Wednesday, sending the document to the Chamber of Deputies for a decision.
The Czech Republic is among a minority of six EU countries, including Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania, that have not yet ratified the document. The Czech Republic is the only country from the group where the debate on the convention is moving towards adoption.
“We have approved the ratification of the Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Violence at the governing cabinet meeting. Any step that helps prevent sexualised violence and violence against women is a good step,” Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) tweeted after Wednesday’s government meeting.
“The Convention should also contribute to the more sensitive treatment of victims. I hope that it will soon pass the Chamber of Deputies,” Rakušan added.
The Czech Republic signed the Istanbul convention in 2016, but parliament was never allowed to vote on it until now.
Whether the document will pass parliament remains uncertain as the current Czech five-party coalition government remains divided, while centrist parties – STAN, Czech Pirates (Greens/EFA affiliated) and TOP 09 (EPP affiliated) – favour it and the parties ODS (ECR affiliated) and KDU-ČSL (EPP affiliated) are primarily against it.
To make predictions even harder, the MPs have diverse views, even within individual political parties.
(Aneta Zachová | EURACTIV.cz)
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