Czech Republic drops Istanbul Convention over gender ideology

Czech Republic. Photo: Czechia Online

The Czech government has revoked a decision by the previous cabinet to continue the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, officially ending its consideration at the government level. This was reported by the Czech outlet iROZHLAS.

The decision overturns a resolution adopted in June 2023 by the government of Petr Fiala, which called for continuing the ratification process for the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, commonly known as the Istanbul Convention.

According to the outlet, the current government’s decision was adopted without a separate press release and was not publicly discussed at press conferences. Its contents became known after journalists published the document.

The decision follows the position taken by the Czech Senate, which declined to support ratification of the convention on January 24, 2024. At the time, the document failed to secure the required majority.

During the debate, senators opposed to ratification argued that the document contained ideological provisions extending beyond the fight against violence. Senator Zdeněk Hraba described the convention as an “ideological document,” while Senate Deputy Speaker Jiří Oberfalzer noted that the text repeatedly uses the term “gender” instead of biological sex.

Opponents of the document also point to Article 12 of the Convention, which requires states to take measures to eliminate stereotypical roles of men and women. In their view, this promotes the concept of gender as a social construct independent of biological sex.

As an alternative, Poland’s Ordo Iuris Institute has drafted a Convention on the Rights of the Family. According to its authors, the document protects the family as the fundamental unit of society, defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, and contains no ideological provisions associated with gender theory.

The Istanbul Convention was adopted by the Council of Europe in 2011 and is ostensibly aimed at preventing violence against women and domestic violence. At the same time, it has sparked debate in several European countries because of its use of the term “gender” and related provisions.

As previously reported by the UOJ, the Polish president vetoed legislation on same-sex marriage.

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