Cyprus becomes the 28th country where the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence comes into force. The legal text, also known as the ‘Istanbul Convention’ is “an important step” in preventing violence against women, Ionas Nicolaou, the Minister of Justice and Public Order, told CNA.
Nicolaou also said that a draft bill to criminalize violence against women will be sent to the Parliament soon and reminded that the draft bill on stalking is already being discussed. The Minister expressed hope the discussion of the pending bill to start as a matter of priority, once submitted.
Implementing the Istanbul Convention “is one of the most important steps in preventing violence against women,” Nicolaou underlined. He added that the government’s decision to proceed with its ratification was “a move to the right direction”, and noted that his Ministry is working systematically to implement the Convention’s protective provisions.
The Republic of Cyprus signed the Istanbul Convention on June 16, 2015 and ratified it on November 10, 2017. The Convention entered into force on March 1, 2018.
According to Nicolaou, both draft bills will complement existing legislation and improve its implementation. He added that these issues concern the whole of the society, as well as the parliament and appeared confident that the second draft bill will be discussed as a matter of priority, once submitted.
The Minister said finally that implementing the Convention doesn’t mean that public finances will have to bear an intolerable cost, because Cyprus is making use of certain reservations, as does the majority of other countries.
