Articles of the Istanbul Convention

You can find the articles and details of the Istanbul Convention below.

ISTANBUL CONVENTION

Chapter I – Purposes, definitions, equality and non-discrimination, general obligations

Article 1 – Purposes of the Convention 1 The purposes of this Convention are: a protect women against all forms of violence and prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence; b contribute to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and promote substantive equality between women and men, including by empowering women; c design a comprehensive framework, policies and measures for the protection of and assistance to all victims of violence against women and domestic violence; d promote international co-operation with a view to eliminating violence against women and domestic violence; e provide support and assistance to organisations and law enforcement agencies to effectively co-operate in order to adopt an integrated approach to eliminating violence against women and domestic violence. 2 In order to ensure the effective implementation of the provisions of this Convention, a specific monitoring mechanism is established by this Convention.

Article 2 – Scope of the Convention 1 This Convention shall apply to all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence, which affects women disproportionately. 5 2 Parties are encouraged to apply this Convention to all victims of domestic violence. Parties shall pay particular attention to women victims of gender-based violence in implementing the provisions of this Convention. 3 This Convention shall apply in times of peace and in situations of armed conflict.

Article 3 – Definitions For the purposes of this Convention: a “violence against women” is understood as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women and shall mean all acts of gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life; b “domestic violence” shall mean all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim; c “gender” shall mean the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men; d “gender-based violence against women” shall mean violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately; e “victim” shall mean any natural person who is subject to the conduct specified in points a and b; f “women” includes girls under the age of 18.

Article 4 – Fundamental rights, equality and non-discrimination 1 Parties shall take the necessary legislative and other measures to promote and protect the right for everyone, particularly women, to live free from violence in both the public and the private sphere. 2 Parties condemn all forms of discrimination against women and shall take the necessary legislative and other measures to prevent it, in particular by: – including in their national constitutions or other appropriate legislation the principle of equality between women and men and ensuring the practical realisation of this principle; – prohibiting discrimination against women, including through the use of sanctions, where appropriate; – abolishing laws and practices which discriminate against women. 6 3 Parties shall ensure that the provisions of this Convention, in particular measures to protect the rights of victims, are implemented without discrimination on any ground such as sex, gender, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth, sexual orientation, gender identity, health status, disability, marital status, migrant or refugee status or other status. 4 Special measures that are necessary to protect women from gender-based violence shall notArticle 5 – State obligations and investigations and research to be conducted diligently 1 Parties shall refrain from engaging in any act of violence against women and shall ensure that State authorities, officials, organs, institutions and other actors acting on behalf of the State act in accordance with this obligation. 2 Parties shall take the necessary legislative and other measures to exercise the utmost care and diligence to prevent, investigate, punish and provide compensation for acts of violence covered by the scope of this Convention that are perpetrated by non-State actors. Article 6 – Gender-sensitive policies Parties shall incorporate a gender perspective into the implementation of this Convention and the evaluation of the impact of its provisions, and shall promote and effectively implement their policies on equality between women and men and the empowerment of women.

Part II – Integrated policies and data collection

Article 7 – Comprehensive and co-ordinated policies 1 Parties shall take the necessary legislative and other measures to adopt and implement State-wide effective, comprehensive and co-ordinated policies encompassing all relevant measures to prevent and combat all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention, and shall ensure a holistic response to violence against women. 2 Parties shall ensure that the policies referred to in paragraph 1, by way of effective co-operation among all relevant agencies, institutions and organisations, place the rights of the victim at the centre of all measures taken. 3 Measures taken pursuant to this article shall involve, where appropriate, all relevant actors, such as government agencies, national, regional and local parliaments and authorities, national human rights institutions and civil society organisations.

Article 8 – Financial resources Parties shall allocate appropriate financial and human resources for the adequate implementation of integrated policies, measures and programmes to prevent and combat all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention, including those carried out by non-State actors and civil society.

Article 9 – Non-governmental organisations and civil society Parties shall recognise, encourage and support, at all levels, the work of non-governmental organisations active in the fight against violence against women and shall establish effective co-operation with these organisations. Article 10 – Co-ordinating body 1 Parties shall designate or establish one or more bodies responsible for the co-ordination, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and measures to prevent and combat all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention. These bodies

shall co-ordinate the collection of data as referred to in Article 11, analyse the data and ensure the dissemination of their results. 2 Parties shall ensure that the bodies designated or established pursuant to this article receive information on the general nature of measures taken pursuant to Chapter VIII. 3 Parties shall ensure that the bodies designated or established pursuant to this article have the capacity to communicate directly and establish relationships with corresponding bodies of other Parties.

Article 11 – Data collection and research 1 For the purpose of the implementation of this Convention, Parties shall undertake to: a collect disaggregated statistical data at regular intervals on cases of all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention; b support research on such cases in order to study the root causes and effects of all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention, the incidents, conviction rates, as well as the effectiveness of measures taken to implement this Convention. 2 Parties shall endeavour to conduct population-based surveys at regular intervals to assess the prevalence of and trends in all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention. 3 Parties shall provide the group of experts referred to in Article 66 of this Convention with the information collected pursuant to this article in order to stimulate international co-operation and enable international benchmarking in this field. 4 Parties shall ensure that the information collected pursuant to this article is available to the public.

Part III – PreventionArticle 12 – General obligations 1 Parties shall take the necessary measures to promote changes in the social and cultural patterns of behaviour of women and men with a view to eradicating prejudices, customs, traditions and other practices based on the idea of the inferiority of women or on stereotyped roles for women and men. 2 Parties shall take the necessary legal and other measures to prevent all acts of violence within the scope of this Convention by any natural or legal person. 3 All measures taken pursuant to this chapter shall take into account and seek to meet the needs of persons made vulnerable by particular circumstances, and the human rights of victims shall be placed at the centre of all measures. 4 Parties shall take the necessary measures to encourage all members of society, especially young people and men, to contribute actively to preventing all acts of violence within the scope of this Convention. 5 Parties shall ensure that concepts such as culture, custom, religion, tradition or so-called “honour” are not used as a justification for any act of violence within the scope of this Convention. 6 Parties shall take the necessary measures to promote programmes and activities for the empowerment of women.

Article 13 – Awareness-raising 1 Parties shall promote or conduct, on a regular basis and at all levels, awareness-raising campaigns and programmes, including in co-operation with national human rights institutions and equality bodies, civil society organisations and especially women’s organisations, where appropriate, in order to increase public awareness and understanding of the different ways in which all acts of violence within the scope of this Convention manifest, their impact on children and the need to prevent such acts of violence. 2 Parties shall ensure the widest possible dissemination among the public of information on existing measures to prevent acts of violence within the scope of this Convention.

Article 14 – Education 1 Parties shall take, where appropriate, the necessary measures to include in formal curricula at all levels of education, in a manner adapted to students’ evolving learning capacities, issues such as equality between women and men, gender roles free from social stereotypes, mutual respect, non-violent resolution of conflicts in personal relationships, gender-based violence against women and respect for personal integrity. 2 Parties shall take the necessary measures to promote the principles referred to in paragraph 1 in informal education, as well as in sports, cultural and leisure facilities and in the media.

Article 15 – Training of professionals 1 Parties shall provide or strengthen appropriate training for the relevant professionals dealing with victims or perpetrators of all acts of violence within the scope of this Convention, on the prevention and detection of such violence, equality between women and men, the needs and rights of victims, as well as on the prevention of secondary victimisation.

The Istanbul Convention and Turkey
Turkey is among the first signatory states to the Istanbul Convention.

On 24 November 2011, it became the first country to pass it through its parliament, with 246 of 247 members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey voting in favour and 1 member abstaining.