CNA Staff, Sep 18, 2020 / 02:30 am
Poland's bishops have intervened in a debate over whether their country should withdraw from a European treaty on preventing violence against women.
In a statement issued Sept. 17, the bishops reiterated their opposition to the Istanbul Convention, an initiative seeking to create a pan-European legal framework to protect women against violence, on the grounds that it "introduces elements of gender ideology."
"We welcome the emergence of a social legislative initiative to terminate the Istanbul Convention and replace it with the International Convention on the Rights of the Family, and we encourage support for this action," they said, according to an English translation provided by the Polish Bishops' Conference.
The "Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence" was launched in 2011 by the Council of Europe, a human rights organization founded in 1949 with 47 member states.