Human Rights and Equality Commission Welcomes the State’s ratification of Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (“the Commission”) has today welcomed the State’s ratification of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
The Commission has consistently sought the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, to ensure the State applies a comprehensive approach to combatting and preventing violence against women and domestic violence. Now ratified, the Commission in its statutory role will actively participate in monitoring the implementation of the Convention in Ireland.
Emily Logan, Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission welcomed the ratification:
“Today’s ratification provides a welcome spur to press forward on legislative and policy developments to see a comprehensive and coordinated response to violence against women and domestic violence.
“In particular, the Commission has highlighted our concerns about the vulnerability of migrant women who are victims of domestic violence, and concerns about the multiple barriers faced by victims in accessing services, including women in living in rural Ireland where there are insufficient domestic violence refuges.
On this International Women’s Day, the Commission has also announced that as Ireland’s National Human Rights Institution it is preparing to update the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on Ireland’s progress on implementing the CEDAW Convention.
The Commission will, later this month, report to the expert UN Committee on Ireland’s progress since the State’s February 2017 review, on implementing the recommendations made by the UN Committee across a number of areas, including:
- Access to justice for historical abuses of women and girls
- Impact of austerity measures on non-governmental organisations
- Access to abortion
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Brian Dawson, IHREC Communications Manager,
01 8589601 / 087 0697095
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Editor’s Note
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has since its establishment consistently sought the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in the following:
- November 2015 – Statement on Ireland’s signature of Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women (Istanbul Convention)
- 2016 – The prevalence of gender-based violence in Ireland was a significant issue of concern raised during the Commission’s public consultation on Ireland’s implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2016.
- January 2017 – The Commission made a submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (“the Committee”), in respect of Ireland’s combined sixth and seventh periodic reports under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (“the Convention”).
- February 2017 – Observations on the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill 2016 – February 2017; The Commission recommended execution of the necessary action points to enable the timely ratification of the Istanbul Convention.
- July 2017 – The Commission made a submission to the United Nations Committee against Torture, in respect of Ireland’s second periodic report under the Convention against Torture highlighting Ireland’s ongoing failure to ratify the Istanbul Convention amongst other international treaties, as a concern when examining Ireland’s capacity to prevent torture and ill-treatment.
Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is an independent public body, appointed by the President and directly accountable to the Oireachtas. The Commission has a statutory remit set out under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act (2014) to protect and promote human rights and equality in Ireland, and build a culture of respect for human rights, equality and intercultural understanding in the State.
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is Ireland’s national human rights institution and is recognised as such by the United Nations. The Commission is also Ireland’s national equality body for the purpose of a range of EU anti-discrimination measures.