Mendes Bota welcomes advances in the international fight against violence against women

The deputy to the Assembly of the Republic elected by the Algarve Mendes Bota announced that the Convention for the Prevention and Combat of Violence Against Women, also known as the Istanbul Convention, for which he fought in European instances, will take effect in august.

The Algarve parliamentarian proposed the drafting of this convention in 2007 and was the General Rapporteur on Violence Against Women of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

«With the deposition of the Charter of Ratification of Denmark and Andorra, 11 States have already completed this process, thus surpassing the minimum threshold of 10 ratifications for the entry into force of the Istanbul Convention, so the date of 1 August 2014 is automatically established for the production of binding legal effects», announced Mendes Bota, in a press release, where he welcomes the decisive progress that the process has made.

Before these two States, Portugal, Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey had already adhered to this convention.

Until arriving here, and already after having proposed the drafting of the agreement to the Parliamentary Assembly, «Mendes Bota was part of the group in charge of drafting the text of the Convention, between 2009 and 2011, and was the author of the final report on the same». document that approved.

«After the opening of the Convention, held in Istanbul, on May 11, 2011, Mendes Bota was appointed General Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, with the main mission of promoting the signing and ratification of this legal instrument, in which it has resulted in contacts with Governments and Parliaments of dozens of European and even non-European states», added the Algarve deputy.

At a time when there is a "quorum" for the Convention to enter into force, it is necessary to give "priority attention to the constitution of the monitoring mechanism provided for in the Convention, called GREVIO, whose action is essential to encourage States to implement its provisions. planned'.