The Latvian parliament has voted to withdraw from an international treaty aimed at combating violence against women. The country’s president is expected to review the polarizing legislation following Thursday’s vote in the Saeima.
The Council of Europe Convention, also known as the Istanbul Convention, defines violence against women as a violation of human rights. Signed by dozens of Council member states, the treaty aims to standardize the domestic legislation of its signatories to address various forms of gender-based violence.
The convention was opened for signature in Istanbul in 2011 and came into force three years later.
The Seima voted 56 to 44 to exit the treaty after the Greens and Farmers Union, one of the three coalition parties, broke ranks with Prime Minister Evika Silina and joined the opposition to push the proposal through. Lawmakers supporting the move claim the treaty introduces a definition of gender that goes beyond biological sex, framing it as a social construct. The MPs argue that existing national laws are sufficient to address the issue of gender-based violence.
Following the vote, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics has several options, including returning the law to parliament for reassessment or triggering a referendum. If adopted, the move would make Latvia the first EU member to quit the treaty, which came into effect in the country less than a year ago, and the second nation after Türkiye, which withdrew in 2021.
Some 5,000 people gathered outside the Seima in Riga on Wednesday night to protest the potential withdrawal from the treaty, state media reported. Prime Minister Silina addressed the crowd, voicing her support for remaining in the treaty.
Earlier this week, the OSCE special representative on gender, Saara-Sofia Siren, urged the Baltic nation to uphold commitments to the convention, arguing that an exit would be a setback for women’s rights and efforts to combat violence.
The latest data from the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia show that before the treaty’s ratification, one in four women aged 18‑74 had experienced physical or sexual violence. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), women made up 85% of intimate partner violence victims recorded by Latvian police in 2022.
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