The European Union would force gender ideology on its member states through the Istanbul Convention. V4NA has interviewed the Vice President of Ordo Iuris, an organisation opposing the document, and a researcher at the Hungarian Center for Fundamental Rights, who pointed out that the document was another tool for ideological witch hunts and was unsuitable for what it had been designed for.

Poland now wants to quit the convention ratified in 2015 by the previous liberal government. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has recently announced that he would seek the opinion of the Constitutional Court on whether the Istanbul Convention is in compliance with the Polish Constitution. He argued that citizens were concerned that the document violated the Polish legal order and was based on ideological grounds. Poland s premier added that the Law and Justice Party shares those concerns. The party  has the right to declare the document incompatible with the country s constitution, if necessary.

What is the Istanbul Convention?

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, entered into force in 2014. One of the signatories is the European Union, despite the fact that it has no competence or authority in that regard. The convention is surrounded by numerous contradictions. While its title covers an important topic, it also contains very serious political agendas, with which not all countries agree.

„It aims to end violence against women, but it is not suitable for that. It is just a piece of paper,” Eszter Parkanyi, a researcher at the Center for Fundamental Rights told V4NA. She said that the EU wanted to adopt the convention as a directive, but since it also has criminal law clauses, which is a member state competence, the EU as an organisation cannot join the signatories of the document.

Ordo Iuris Vice President Tymoteusz Zych also said the convention completely undermined the traditional family model. He pointed out that the document aimed to eliminate traditional female and male roles, which could essentially lead to the elimination of European culture itself. The convention envisions this with mandatory „non-stereotypical education,” which, according to the expert, is closest to LGBT education and is based on Marxist principles such as the family is an artificial social construct in which a man dominates a woman, which means that it must be eradicated from society.

Using the term „gender” instead of biological sex is also questionable and contradicts the gender definition of several countries legal system. According to Ms Parkanyi, the adoption of the convention is also dangerous, because it enters the national legal system, and from there, through judicial activism and legal interpretation, it can undermine the concept of biological sex in the legal system and thus marriage between man and woman.

The two experts also agree that the convention does not provide any solution to the problem of domestic violence. Both Poland and Hungary have adopted significantly more stringent measures to protect families and women. Mr Zych said that Poland had one of the lowest numbers of cases of violence against women, and such cases were solved in an extremely high proportion. He added that the convention completely ignored the real causes of abuse, such as drug and alcohol problems and only set gender roles as guilty.

Brussels will fix everything

Ms Parkanyi also draws attention to the fact that although the document may conflict with the constitution of a member state, it does not always mean protection.

In Bulgaria, for example, the convention was deemed unconstitutional, subsequently the European Union sent a delegation of experts to the country to „help” Eastern Europeans who could not interpret the convention correctly to realise that it was not unconstitutional. Mr Zych s Polish example was when the Commission rejected grant applications from six Polish cities for gender-based discrimination and creating LGBT-free zones. According to the expert, this is clearly an ideological attack and just a lie, as nothing like this is happening in Poland. He said EU decision-makers, especially the Commissioners, should be reminded that EU law obliges them to respect member states legal systems.

What does migration have to do with it?

The Hungarian government condemns the agreement in several respects. Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga previously indicated that the Hungarian government did not support the Convention on the protection of women and domestic violence, because it was contrary to its migration policy. „Quite a different field, indeed,” said Eszter Parkanyi. She explained that the document is related to migration in that it also wants to take gender into account when submitting asylum applications. „Thus, it can happen that if someone arriving at the border declares that they are transgender and therefore subject to persecution in their country, then they are eligible for asylum,” she said. This could be a weapon in the hands of immigrants from countries with a predominantly Muslim population, as LGBT ideology is not supported in such countries and they can easily refer to it.

The resistance

The Ordo Iuris and the Center for Fundamental Rights have also initiated a petition to stop the gender convention. According to the petition, the adoption of the convention at EU level would clearly go beyond EU competence, though there is increasing evidence that the European Commission is ready to adopt it. EU ratification, on the other hand, would have the serious consequence that those countries, which have not yet ratified the convention, would also have to apply it, furthermore, it would be almost impossible to withdraw from it.
 

The petition has so far been signed by more than 49,000 people across Europe and is supported by 22 organisations, mainly in Central and Eastern Europe.