Marking the last of three side-events organised within the framework of the 60th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York, Liberal International drew together a diverse number of liberal politicians, NGO representatives, and diplomats to discuss the extension of the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combatting Violence against Women beyond the borders of Europe.
The event was co-hosted together with the International Network of Liberal Women (INLW, LI full-member), UN Watch (LI partner) and Rutgers (INLW Partner) and it featured LI HRC Member and Member of the Moroccan Parliament Fouzia El Bayed (UC, LI full-member), the President of the Women’s Forum of the Liberal Democratic Party of Macedonia Juliana Nikolova (LDP, LI full member), Member of the Mexican Parliament and consultant on human rights for UN Women Patricia Olamendi (Nueva Allianza, LI full-member) and technical advisor under the Prevention+ Project at Rutgers.
Issues which were debated at length included the importance of providing legal protection for all women, equal access to education and involving men in the battle to end violence against women on all levels be it individual, family, group, institutional or legislative.
Nikolova stressed that “there is no excuse for my country not to sign and ratify the Istanbul Convention” and further inform that her party “will go on campaigning to this end, because violence against women and girls and domestic violence should fall under an international legally binding instrument.”
Speaking of the importance of regional legal instruments, Olamendi coined the Inter-American Convention as crucial in ending violence against women in Latin America but underlined that an international instrument such as a globalized Istanbul Convention is necessary in order to make a real difference in the future.
As Member of the Arab Women Parliamentarians Network of Equality, El Bayed informed the audience that due to a Constitutional change all laws in Morocco have now gradually been adapted to conform to the Istanbul Convention and there is now a commission to prepare a similar document for the Arab world together with 17 other Arab countries led by her.
Closing the session, Lorist presented a short movie on the impact of men on the respect for women’s rights prepared by Rutgers (Dutch NGO) and underlined the importance of institutions and NGOs in the fight for gender equality.
The event was preceded by a bilateral meeting with the United Nations Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Mr. Ivan Simonovic which was led by LI president Dr. Juli Minoves and included LI HRC Member and INLW VP Khadija El Morabit, INLW Treasurer Lysbeth van Valkenburg-Lely, and Head of LI Human Rights Programme Tamara Dancheva.
Expressing support for the work of LI Human Rights Committee Simonovic commented during the meeting saying: “LI has a role to play in fighting modern day challenges to human rights and we are pleased to identify so many areas where our common objectives meet.” Possible areas for cooperation identified were the UN Free and Equal Campaign on LGBTI Rights, the universal abolition of the death penalty and establishing a minimum threshold of values which any future UN Secretary General should uphold.
Liberal International took an active part during the entire UNCSW Session by joining NDI’s Global Call for Action to End Violence against Women in Politics or the so-called #NotTheCost campaign led by NDI Chairwoman Secretary Madeleine Albright and meeting with the Icelandic Ambassador to the United Nations Einar Gunnarsson in order to lend support to the objectives of the Barbershop Conference led by the Icelandic liberal government.
