Introduction

The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 1981 (CEDAW), considered as the international bill of women's rights (Merry, 2003: 950), does not make reference to the issue of violence against women or domestic violence. Most of the international human rights law is drawn in a gendersymmetrical sense, therefore ‘violence against women’ is not referred to explicitly in these instruments. The Convention of Belem do Para, adopted by the Organization of American States in 1994, was the first legally binding instrument specifically devoted to the elimination of all forms of violence against women. However, until recently this had not been duplicated in a legally binding instrument across Europe.

Considering domestic violence is a significantly prevalent problem in Europe, this negligence is perhaps surprising. According to the first comprehensive survey on violence against women in Europe, published in 2014: ‘violence against women is an extensive but widely underreported human rights abuse across the EU’ and ‘22% of women who are or have been in a relationship with a man have experienced physical and/or sexual violence’ (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2014: 21). Although this is the case, the problem has been handled under gender-neutral human rights instruments in Europe, which means that the structural nature of violence against women has been ignored. Due to lack of a comprehensive legally binding instrument tackling the gendered nature of the problem, there have not been many legally enforceable measures developed to address the issue. However, the adoption of a binding instrument specifically dealing with the issue would provide political acknowledgement of the gendered nature of violence in Europe and offer more space to develop detailed measures to prevent future violence.

In the face of this normative lack of recognition regarding violence against women, the Council of Europe adopted the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). The Convention was opened for signature on 11 May 2011 in Istanbul and was enforced from 1 August 2014. It is significant that it is the first legally binding instrument within Europe specifically aimed at combating violence against women, including domestic violence. In fact, previously the issue was handled under soft-law instruments, which resulting from an aspirational consensus in Europe and used to encourage states to eliminate violence through political channels, rather than binding legal obligations (Chinkin, 2010).