‘Gender gibberish’ was how Poland’s Deputy Justice Minister, Marcin Romanowski, described the Istanbul Convention as he announced the government’s plans to pull out of the landmark international treaty.

The Istanbul Convention (the ‘Convention’) was the world’s first binding instrument to tackle violence against women and girls, including domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, female genital mutilation, honour-based violence, and forced marriage. The Convention came into force in April 2014 and has been signed by 45 countries and the European Union.

Under a previous government, Poland signed the treaty in 2012 and ratified it in 2015. However, July’s elections saw the incumbent nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) defeat a challenge for the presidency from the more moderate Civic Platform candidate, Rafal Trzaskowski. The 51% to 49% result, which gave victory to President Andrzej Duda, was described by The Economist as ‘a win for intolerance.’

Throughout the campaign, PiS stirred up hatred in all corners of Polish society. LGBT+ people, the Jewish community, liberals, and anyone else deemed to be a risk to Polish traditions were aggressively targeted in the party’s re-election strategy. In this context, the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention can be viewed as just one aspect of the government’s unwavering conservative social agenda.

WHAT HAS THE GOVERNMENT SAID?

The governing PiS party and its coalition partners strongly align themselves with the Catholic Church. PiS claims that the Convention’s description of gender as a ‘social’ role and its requirement for schools to teach children about gender ideology, are contrary to Polish family traditions and parents' rights. 

At a press conference at the end of July, the Justice Minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, described the treaty as ‘harmful’ because ‘it contains elements of an ideological nature.’ Ziobro represents United Poland, a Catholic-nationalist political party, which is one of the coalition partners ruling in Poland alongside PiS as the United Right. The coalition is overtly hostile to LGBT+ and women’s rights, considering them a threat to ‘traditional families’. In one campaign speech, President Duda called the promotion of LGBT+ rights an ‘ideology’ more destructive than communism.

The government was not available for comment on whether or not Ziobro’s announcement regarding withdrawal from the Convention was representative of a collective cabinet decision. Regardless, the Justice Minister has asked the Labour Ministry to begin withdrawing Poland from the treaty.

WHAT HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN? 

Following the announcement, tens of thousands of people – mainly women – took to the streets to protest in 30 cities across Poland. Marta Lempart, an organizer of the march in Warsaw, said the government ‘has been laughing in the faces of victims of gender violence for years'. For example, last year the government considered plans to redefine the definition of domestic violence so that the term would only apply to those who had been beaten more than once. Although these plans have been put on hold, this proposed change was reflected in a draft legislative bill and published on the government’s website.

The Council of Europe, which is the human rights group responsible for drafting the Istanbul Convention, has described the decision as ‘alarming’. In a statement, it stressed that the Convention’s sole objective is to ‘combat violence against women’ and that Poland’s withdrawal would be a ‘major step backwards in the protection of women'.

In response, the government claimed that Poland’s existing laws protect women and children from violence more effectively than the Convention. Yet there have been dissenting voices from the political sphere. Trzaskowski, Warsaw’s mayor and the former presidential candidate, said that all political forces should work together to fight domestic violence, calling the suggestion of withdrawal from the Convention a  ’scandal’.

WHAT WOULD THE WITHDRAWAL MEAN?

The Istanbul Convention does not carry legal force. However, it comes with an expectation that signatories will introduce laws that criminalize psychological and physical abuse of women and girls. It also represents a commitment to launching educational campaigns on the issue and adherence to a monitoring programme, allowing the Convention’s implementation to be assessed.

The widespread nature of domestic violence in Poland highlights why the Convention is so important. The Warsaw-based Women’s Rights Center estimates that 800,000 women in the country are victims each year, with domestic violence being a cause of death in 400-500 cases.

It is widely recognized that these figures have risen sharply since the outbreak of Covid-19, as helplines across Europe have reported record numbers calling for help. Natalia Broniarczyk, from Abortion Without Borders, said ‘what is most cruel is the timing — they are coming back to the issue during a pandemic, when the situation of victims of violence has gotten much worse, as they are locked in with their abusers’. Yet, emboldened by their election victory, this move is likely representative of only one step in the implementation of the Polish government’s wider far-right agenda. 

Rebecca is due to begin the GDL in September, having graduated with a BA in History from Durham University. In the intervening years, she worked at a global asset management firm where, alongside her role, she helped lead their charitable efforts in the UK. Following her legal studies, she hopes to pursue a career at the Bar.

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