The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, does not contradict the Lithuanian constitution, the Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday.
“This conclusion of the Constitutional Court is final and cannot be appealed,” said Gintaras Goda, the president of the Constitutional Court.
Last autumn, the Lithuanian parliament asked the Constitutional Court to assess whether the norms of the Istanbul Convention on gender from a social perspective, gender-based violence against women, and the inclusion of material on non-stereotypical gender roles in the official education curriculum, among other things, were compatible with the Lithuanian Constitution.
Adopted in 2011, the Istanbul Convention was signed by Lithuania on June 7, 2013, but has not been ratified yet.
The Istanbul Convention was submitted to the Lithuanian parliament for ratification by former President Dalia Grybauskaitė, but the process has stalled due to political disagreements on some of the document’s provisions.
Experts from the Council of Europe say Lithuania could benefit from recommendations on curbing domestic violence.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
