The Polish government has taken the first step towards withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention which the government believes promotes gender ideology. Zbigniew Ziobro, Minister of Justice, filed a motion to the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy which formally begins this procedure.
The Istanbul Convention was concluded in 2015 during the Civic Platform and the Polish People’s party government, and has been arousing many controversies ever since. The controversies concerned, among others, the values of gender ideology. Today, Zbigniew Ziobro, Minister of Justice filed a motion to the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy for Poland to withdraw from the convention.
According to Zbigniew Ziobro “the actions can be taken without any ideology and that the groupings connected to the Civic Platform party comment on the matter, but they don’t do anything about it. They don’t take specific actions which could really help women who experience violence.”
The Legislative Initiative Committee ‘Yes to the family, no to gender ideology’ has been collecting signatures to support withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention and replace it with the International Family Rights Convention for several days now. Director of the Ordo Iuris Institute, Karolina Pawłowska stated that “Our Institute together with many other organizations started the Family Rights Convention project in 2018. The project focuses on domestic violence and the ways to fight it. We identify the real causes, including alcoholism, family breakdown, pornography, sexualization of the image of woman, social atomization, and we propose effective solutions which are nowhere to be found in the Istanbul Convention. “
The Left and the Civic Platform parties are defending the Istanbul Convention. Liberal Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski said that “the ruling party wants to finish every matter just like they said they would. They want to attack women, local government and the media once again. Let’s hope that the objection of the opposition and the citizens stop them from taking it too far. In my opinion, the withdrawal from the convention is a scandal. “
According to sociologist dr. Krzysztof Karnkowski, gender ideology is hidden behind the Istanbul Convention. The Istanbul Convention is more of an ideological document than a practical one. Now, many want to present this document as one that prevents violence, which is nonsense. This document is a collection of liberal spells, and when it comes to the matters regarding violence – they are regulated by our internal regulations.
Bulgaria, Czechia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Hungary, and the United Kingdom are the only countries which did not ratify the Istanbul Convention.