My Lords, it is a great pleasure to bring this important Private Member’s Bill to your Lordships’ House. It has been guided with conviction and passion through the other place by its sponsor, Dr Eilidh Whiteford MP. Its purpose is to unblock the log-jam which has thus far delayed ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, which is better known as the Istanbul convention. It also puts on a statutory footing important mechanisms to hold the Government to account in their progress towards ratification.
The UK signed the Istanbul convention in June 2012, having played an important role in its negotiation and drafting. However, despite the important progress made by the present and previous Governments—including a range of new legislation that prepares the UK for compliance with the treaty, and repeated verbal commitments to the principle of ratification—the process has stalled and, nearly five years on, the treaty remains unratified.
The Istanbul convention is unique, ground-breaking international legislation which enshrines the basic human right of women and girls to live free from violence in
both the public and private spheres. Preventing violence against women and domestic violence can save lives and reduce human suffering. The convention focuses on three important aims: preventing violence against women, protecting victims and survivors of abuse, and prosecuting perpetrators. It brings greater coherence, consistency and strategic direction to the important work already undertaken by organisations, communities and governments that aims to eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination against women and promote substantive equality between women and men. It has been hailed as the best piece of international policy and practice for eliminating violence against women that exists anywhere. It is the first legislation that sets minimum standards for government responses to victims and survivors of gender-based violence. The Istanbul convention is broad in scope, and the aims are very specific. Covering criminal, civil and migration law, it sets minimum standards for the protection of survivors and for access to services.
Governments who ratify the convention are required to work to prevent violence and bring about an attitudinal change. It explicitly covers many manifestations of gender- based violence, including physical and psychological abuse, stalking, sexual violence including rape, forced marriages, female genital mutilation and so-called honour crimes. The Istanbul convention is unique in that it understands that states cannot be responsible for preventing violence against women and domestic violence on their own, and calls on countries to work together to tackle cross-border issues. It calls on all members of society to help reach the ultimate goal of a world free from all forms of violence against women and domestic violence. It recognises that women are disproportionately affected by sexual and domestic violence because of underlying gender inequalities, which are also compounded by abuse. The convention also places an emphasis on challenging the misogynistic attitudes that perpetuate gender inequality as a means of preventing violence and abuse.
Preventive measures are not the only important issue. Protecting victims and survivors and providing them with appropriate support are vital. States that ratify the Istanbul convention are required to ensure that accessible shelters exist in sufficient numbers and in adequate geographical distribution. Ratifying the Istanbul convention would put a duty on the Government to ensure that women’s refuges exist and provide important support at a time when women need it most. It also puts on a statutory footing the provision of rape crisis centres, 24-hour advice lines and access to useful information. The Council of Europe says:
“It should be borne in mind that it is not enough to set up protection structures and support services for victims. It is equally important to make sure victims are informed of their rights and know where and how to get help”.
It is an important consideration that anyone can be a victim of sexual violence or domestic abuse, regardless of economic background, age, ethnicity, religion or gender. However, we know that certain characteristics increase the risks: for example, poorer women and disabled women are at a greater risk of domestic abuse, while women from some ethnic minorities or cultural backgrounds are at greater risk of certain forms of gender-based violence.
One question that is asked frequently is, “What about the men?”. I would like to deal with this, because it was a point of contention in the other place. The convention itself explicitly addresses this issue in Article 4, where it makes it clear that its provisions apply to all persons, regardless of gender, and a whole range of other protected characteristics. However, the convention primarily focuses on women, and it is important that it does, because sexual violence and domestic abuse affect women to a hugely disproportionate extent, both in terms of prevalence and severity. In England and Wales in 2015, over 92% of the prosecutions brought for domestic abuse involved a male perpetrator and a female victim. Two women a week die at the hands of a partner or former partner. This does not mean that crimes committed by women against men, or by men against men, are less serious—they are serious—but to ignore the gendered dynamic of such types of crime would be wrong. One woman in four in the UK will experience sexual or domestic violence in her lifetime. The sheer scale of the problem demands that we take it more seriously.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights, in its sixth report of the 2014-15 Session, entitled Violence Against Women and Girls, recommended that the UK Government ratify the Istanbul convention. It raised concerns at the time that the inter-ministerial group had insufficient powers, with witnesses to the committee criticising the group for not taking a holistic approach towards ending violence against women and girls because of the lack of representation from immigration officials. Asylum Aid recommended at the time that the Immigration Minister and UK Visas and Immigration should have representation on the group to ensure that the issues arising are dealt with effectively. I would appreciate it if the Minister said something on this today—or perhaps she could write to me later—as I would like to see these issues addressed.
On 24 November last year, I asked the Minister in your Lordships’ House why the Government had not yet ratified the Istanbul convention and when they intended to do so. The Minister said that the Government were committed to ratifying, but that in order to do so they would need to legislate to take extra-terrestrial jurisdiction over a wide range of offences.