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The President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkevics, has declared that he will return to Parliament the law on the country’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention to be reviewed again, public broadcaster ‘LSM’ reported on Monday. Parliament, or Saeima, voted on October 31 to withdraw from the human rights treaty that opposes violence against women and domestic violence.
32 legislators voted in favor of remaining in the treatywhile 56 voted to abandon it, claiming that the treaty promotes “radical feminism based on gender ideology.” There were two abstentions. Rinkevics said withdrawing from the treaty would send a “contradictory message.”
“The ratification and denunciation of the Convention during a Saeima mandate sends a contradictory message to both Latvian society and Latvia’s allies internationally about Latvia’s willingness to fulfill its international obligations of good faith“Rinkevics said in a letter.
“It should also be noted that Latvia would be the first Member State of the European Union to withdraw from a international human rights treaty. “It should be seriously assessed whether such action is compatible with the principle of loyal cooperation enshrined in the Treaty on European Union.”
Rinkevics also said that it might be better for the next Parliament to decide the issue, as Latvians go to the polls in a general election no later than October 3 next yearsuggesting that the Saeima shelve the issue for the better part of a year.
The president has the constitutional right to ask the Saeima to reconsider its decision, but You cannot revoke it unilaterally. Signed by 45 countries and the European Union as of 2019, the Council of Europe treaty aims normalize support for women victims of violenceincluding domestic abuse.
However, ultra-conservative groups and political parties across Europe have criticized the treaty, arguing that it promotes “gender ideology”encourages sexual experimentation and harms children.
Latvian opposition deputies began the process of possible withdrawal from the treaty in September. They were joined by the Union of Greens and Farmers, an agrarian alliance that is a member of the tripartite ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Evika Siliņa‘s center-right Unity party. Silinawhose coalition government came to power in 2023 with the promise of ratifying the agreement, has criticized efforts to withdraw from the treaty.
“Those who have been brave enough to seek help are now witnessing their experiences being used for political battles,” Siliņa wrote on social platform X in October. “It’s cruel.” On the day of the vote, the European Commission said that Latvia would continue to be obliged to respect international standards for the protection of women.
Civil society organizations considered that the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention represented a setback in terms of fundamental rights. The Istanbul Convention is a treaty aimed at preventing and combating violence against women and has been signed by all European Union Member States and several non-EU nations, such as the United Kingdom and Norway.
The EU as a whole acceded to the Istanbul Convention in 2023, making it a legally binding agreement for 27 Member States in the areas that fall under the competence of the EU.
These include the EU institutions and public administration, judicial cooperation in the fight against crime and the right to asylum. But Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Lithuania have not ratified the Convention.
