Civic activists and representatives of governmental organizations protested in front of the Government Building, demanding that the bill to ratify the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women, known as the Istanbul Convention, should be approved, IPN reports.

Civic activist Natalia Rezneac said it is not clear why the authorities avoid ratifying the Convention. As they signed the document in 2017, they undertook to ratify it. “The Convention is actually an infrastructure that would protect the women from abuse. If the Convention is ratified, the Government will undertake to approve laws. If the law is obeyed, things will go on well,” she stated.

Civic activist Olga Nikolenko stated that not long ago Moldova had a Cabinet in which 58% of the members were women. In the current Cabinet, the percentage of women fell to 8% and this is considerable regression. “The ratification of the Convention would lead to the diminution of violence through projects, national programs, public policies. It’s true that costs are incurred, but we cannot go on and cannot pretend that we are a democratic state if we do not ensure decent living conditions, without violence against girls and women in the Republic of Moldova,” opined the activist.

Pavel Postica, programs director at Promo-LEX Association, said the Moldovan authorities should immediately honor their commitment and should make maximum effort to ratify this Convention so as to offer more guarantees to eventual victims of domestic violence. “Greater pressure could be exerted on the authorities than in the current situation when the Convention is not ratified,” he stated.

In February 2017, Moldova signed the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in Strasbourg. This requires to adopt policies, to institute mechanisms for preventing, eliminating and reducing violence against women and domestic violence. With the ratification of the Convention, the national authorities will be obliged to ensure services to protect victims and their children, to offer then refuge, nonstop operational hotlines, legal advice and medical assistance.

On December 11, the bill on the approval of the Istanbul Convention was excluded from the agenda of the Cabinet meeting for the reason that a number of proposals were formulated and these should be discussed at public debates.

More than 10,000 cases of domestic violence were recorded in Moldova in 2017. In 2018, the figure exceeded 11,000. Each fourth woman from urban areas and each third woman from rural areas experienced a form of violence in the course of their life.