The Algarve deputy Mendes Bota (PSD) is promoting a «manual for parliamentarians» to encourage national parliaments to ratify the Istanbul Convention against violence against women.
“On this occasion, when [this Sunday] is celebrated the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I urge the member states of the Council of Europe to show their determination in preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence ratifying the Istanbul Convention,” says Mendes Bota in a statement released this Saturday.
The convention was agreed upon in 2011, but of the 47 members of the Council of Europe, only Turkey and Albania have ratified it. Ten ratifications are required for the convention to enter into force.
In Portugal, according to the Algarvian deputy, the Council of Ministers approved on November 15 a proposal for a resolution that will now be ratified in the Assembly of the Republic.
Mendes Bota has multiplied in contacts with government officials and parliamentarians from numerous States, and is convinced that it is possible to witness, in the coming months, a wave of ratifications that will allow the entry into force of the Istanbul Convention.
For Mendes Bota, “one of the most important provisions clearly establishes that there cannot be any kind of justification for violence against women. Neither culture, nor tradition, nor history nor religion, much less the so-called “honor” or social or economic status, nothing can justify this barbaric attack on the dignity of the human being. The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which is once again celebrated on 25 November, draws attention to this issue. And the Istanbul Convention clearly underlines the responsibility of States in combating this scourge».
Mendes Bota also chairs the Parliamentary Network "Women Free from Violence", within the framework of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which brings together 51 national deputies of Europe (one for each State), seeking to provide parliamentarians with the tools to promote the Convention of Istanbul in their respective countries, and help them implement initiatives in this regard.
The most recent of these tools is the «Handbook for Parliamentarians» about the Istanbul Convention. To the original editions in French and English, and to mark the passage of the 25th of November in 2012, Mendes Bota promoted the edition in Portuguese, of which he now makes public knowledge.
In fact, it is not just a manual for parliamentarians, it is an explanatory guide to the Convention, which can be used by government representatives, non-governmental organizations, activists and citizens in general. It contains arguments and good practices, which everyone can use to defend and promote the Convention.
Finally, Mendes Bota launched a challenge to the municipalities: “on a recent visit to Turkey, I learned of the existence of a monument ordered to be erected by the municipality of Besiktas, in honor of women victims of gender-based violence. There are, everywhere, monuments evocative of the dead of wars. On a global scale, it can be said that the number of women murdered or raped, just because they are women, equals or exceeds in number of victims many large-scale armed conflicts. It seems appropriate for society to express in a sculptural piece the tribute due to women victims of gender violence, and the recognition of their suffering. To the local authorities the initiative!»
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