Senate Committee for Constitutional Law did not support ratifying Istanbul Convention

The Senate Committee for Constitutional Law on Tuesday  failed to support ratification of the Istanbul Convention aimed at preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. The vote was scuppered by opponents of the convention who left the chamber ahead of the vote because they would have been in the minority. None of them proposed rejecting the document’s ratification. It is not yet certain whether the Senate will vote on the convention at its session starting October 18.

Of the Senate committees, only the Human Rights Committee supported ratification of the convention, and only by a narrow majority of three of its five members. The Foreign Affairs Committee and the EU Affairs Committee both rejected it.

Critics of the convention claim it would put the concept of the family as we know under threat, put traditional values at risk, and force unacceptable gender requirements into the Czech language and legislation.