European leading legal principles of combating gender based violence – “Istanbul convention"

Gasmi, Gordana and Prlja, Dragan and Jerotić, Aleksandar (2017) European leading legal principles of combating gender based violence – “Istanbul convention". In: Perspektive implementacije evropskih standarda u pravni sistem Srbije: zbornik radova. Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu, Beograd, pp. 335-350. ISBN 978-86-7630-689-3

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Abstract

The paper is dealing with the new European leading legal principles of combating gender based violence, more specifically, the new Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention set up by the CoE CAHVIO Committee and obtained the title according to the place of its signing), which entered into force on the 1st of August 2014. In this context, concept of gender based violence is analyzed through wider prism of relevant international law. In the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Istanbul Convention, violence against women, i.e. gender based violence has been recognized as a form of discrimination and a violation of women’s human rights. The term “gender-based violence against women” is used throughout the Istanbul Convention and refers to violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately. It differs from other types of violence in that the victim’s gender is the primary motive for the acts of violence. Gender-based violence refers to any harm that is perpetrated against a woman and that is both the cause and the result of unequal power relations based on perceived differences between women and men that lead to women’s subordinate status in both the private and public spheres. The Istanbul Convention of the CoE is open for the accession of non-member states of the Council of Europe, which builds its legal principles into global level. CoE Istanbul Convention has set legally binding principles in the field of prevention, protection of victims of domestic and gender-based violence and prosecution of perpetrators. Reflection on direct regulations on investigation, prosecution and protection of victims in the area of fighting gender-based and domestic violence explains concrete obligations for countries signatories of the Istanbul Convention. According to the Convention, through legally established due diligence principle, it is the duty of governments to protect women and girls as their citizens against this sort of violence and, above all, to prevent it. A historic milestone in the 21st century. Besides their direct obligations for states signatories of the CoE Istanbul Convention, those principles contain specific deterrent effect, through setting legal standards that are comprehensive legal framework in Europe for achieving zero tolerance towards gender-based and domestic violence.

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