The    Gender    Alternatives    Foundation,    ASTRA    member, received    an    invitation    to appoint representatives to  take  part  in  an  Inter-ministerial  working  group  which  aimed to  prepare  the necessary  conditions  for  the  ratification  of  the  Council  of Europe  Convention  on  preventing  and combating  violence  against  women,  including  domestic  violence  (the  Istanbul  Convention). The invitation  came  from  the  Ministry  of  Justice.

The  ratification  of  the  Istanbul  Convention  was discussed by the Bulgarian authorities during the Universal Periodic Review (May 7th, 2015, Geneva, Switzerland)  and  was  later  discussed  by  the  Bulgarian  Government  to  become  a  fact  during  the Bulgarian chairmanship of the Committee of the Ministers of the Council of Europe. GAF was actively involved in the process of motivating the Bulgarian authorities to ratify the Istanbul Convention  giving  its  importance  for  the  protection  of  the  rights  of  women  against  gender  based violence. The last  step  in  the  process  was  to  present  a  Shadow  report  during  the  23rd  UPR  session (7 of May 2015, Geneva, Switzerland). The Report can be found here.

The  Bulgarian  Minister  of  Justice,  Ms  Ekatrina Zaharieva,  signed  the  Istanbul  Convention  on  April 21st.  Bulgaria,  currently  chairing  the  Committee  of  Ministers  of  the  Council  of  Europe,  became  the 40th  member  state  of  the  Council  of  Europe  to  sign  the  Convention.  At  this  date,  21  States  have signed and ratified the Convention. The Group of experts on action against violence  against women and domestic violence (GREVIO) has initiated the evaluation of its implementation.

Source: Astra Bulletin