During recent years, the attempts to delegitimise the Istanbul Convention of the IC have been one of the symptoms of the broader pushback against feminism and gender rights (See further reading Roggeband & Krizsan 2024 and Berthet 2022). Disinformation and the intentional smearing of this pioneering document hinder the already jagged track through which women’s rights defenders have, and continue to, walk through as they fight for equality.
Institutionally, two separate yet interacting bodies have been delegated to assess in depth, on a country-by-country basis, the progress surrounding the terms set out by the convention: The Committee of the Parties and GREVIO (Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. This January, I had the incredible opportunity to work at the Council of Europe as a study visitor for the Secretariat of the monitoring mechanism for the Convention. It was invaluable to see up close and assist the close-knit team of diligent, intelligent and inspiring individuals making up this group.
It is Johanna Nelles who leads the division with untiring and fullhearted perseverance. During my time at the Council, I had the pleasure of organising an interview with her, gaining a first-hand account of her work as the Executive Secretary to the Istanbul Convention. Nelles holds a tranquil, yet fierce presence, attentive to the person in front of her during any conversation. She is incredibly composed and unrevealing of the burdensome reality of her packed schedule. Titles from De Beauvoir and Perez glanced at us from the bookcase in the corner of her Office, and heartening poems adorned the walls with uplifting mantras preaching justice for women. Her commitment to the cause extends beyond the confines of the Agora building; her willingness to cut her lunch time 20 minutes short to meet with me was only a further testament to this.
During our conversation, we also brushed upon her outlook on hurdles, trends and temperaments impeding the broader fight against misogyny and its violent manifestations. A key point of trouble, she noted, simmers in the online space. As it engulfs more and more space in the daily lives of individuals, it also becomes a new arena in which violence against women and girls becomes increasingly widespread, difficult to monitor and pervasive.
Could you briefly explain your role at the Council and what you do?
I'm the Executive Secretary to the Istanbul Convention and the Violence Against Women Division head. So that means I lead the team that does all of the work on the monitoring of the implementation of the Istanbul Convention.
For those that may not be familiar, could you delve briefly into the history and meaning of the Istanbul Convention?
The Istanbul Convention is an international law treaty, whose development began over 15 years ago. That's when it all began in negotiations led by all of the member states of the Council of Europe at the time, forty-seven. And so this was a way to respond to the growing knowledge around violence against women and the fact that there were no legally binding standards on how to approach this issue in Europe. At the time, governments across the member states of the Council of Europe were trying and testing their responses. Some were working, some were maybe not working so well. And so at the Council of Europe, the states decided that it would be good to put the knowledge together, pool it, and then create legally binding standards.
What are some of the key aspects of the Convention?
What is important about the Istanbul Convention is that it's not just a set of standards in the area of criminal law only or about prevention or protection: it covers everything."That's why we like to call it the convention with the four Ps because it really has four important pillars. It looks comprehensively at violence against women, the need to prevent it from happening in the first place, the need to protect victims, but also support them by offering enough services that are run by specialists dedicated to women's empowerment. But it also needs to be prosecuted. So the convention lists a whole range of standards, basically, what needs to go into criminal law, into the criminal codes, how to do better at investigation and prosecution, how to do better risk assessment in individual cases so that a woman can stay safe if the authorities know that she's at risk. All of these things are now listed in a document that works like a bit of a checklist, but it's legally binding for the countries that have ratified it. All of those measures are supposed to form part of a comprehensive policy. Basically, it says that any government serious about preventing and combating violence against women needs to have a whole catalogue of action. It needs to bring all of the actors together. It can't just be the police. It can't just be schools educating young people about it. It needs to be a very holistic set of measures or else it won't work.
What are some worrying trends that you're seeing in terms of the Istanbul convention?
We are seeing a lot of trends in both directions. We're seeing a lot of progress in terms of what governments are doing to consolidate their legal framework. There are now more and better specific offences in criminal codes. There are also more and bigger training initiatives to train police and prosecution services to respond to the different forms of violence. But what we're seeing across the countries is that the violence isn't going away. Levels of perpetration are still very, very high. The data that we're also seeing from surveys is that some forms of violence are increasing. We also know that a huge amount of violence against women is rising online. Using digital technologies to manipulate and control, but also threaten and stalk women and girls. There's a digital dimension now to almost every case of domestic violence because people live in the offline world as much as in the online world. We also don't see that law enforcement services are necessarily equipped enough to respond to this type of violence in terms of human resources, in terms of the number of police officers, but also the level of training knowledge and the technology that they need to actually do this and do it well and do it swiftly and do effective case building.
What worries you about trends in violence against women in general?
Despite all of the good measures that governments are putting in place based on the Istanbul Convention, the level of perpetration isn't necessarily going down. Men and boys still commit these forms of violence, which means we need to invest much more in prevention. It is important to get to the root of why violence against women is perpetrated. Why do they stalk and rape and commit domestic violence? Why do they feel like they can control their girlfriends or their wives and partners, et cetera? So why does this happen?? This is something that needs to be addressed.
Another worry is the number of prosecutions and convictions: although there are improvements in criminal legislation, the number of successful prosecutions and investigations are not necessarily increasing. In some countries, and on some specific offences, such as rape cases where a consent-based definition has been introduced, we do see the numbers go up, but the picture is still very mixed.
Why do you think that is?
This may be because of the lack of evidence, which may be the result of insufficient case-building, or simply because there is not much evidence beyond the victim statement, and where prosecution rests on this. But on the whole, more needs to be done to do better case building and look for evidence more widely. There is growing awareness about this, and the picture is not all bad, but it is something that is worrying because the response of the criminal justic system is really important for victims, and it needs to also send a message to men who perpetrate violence against women, that there is no impunity for these acts. So it needs to be used and needs to be improved.
Do you have any advice for younger people? What would you like tosee amongst our generation?
"It seems to me that online misogyny, sexist hate speech and tech-facilitated violence against women is something that affects many students, and that it is so rampant that it is important to speak out about and it and understand what we can do about it. It is important to ensure that those spaces, the online world that everyone relies on and likes to be in, remain a safe space for everyone: especially women. Do not let anything go and claim that space knowing that it may not be the friendliest of all spaces, but maybe get together and find allies, be active in making it something worthwhile and for women and young girls to be in and operate in. Among the many important changes the Istanbul Convention stands for, understanding that it carries obligations for governments to make sure women and girls are safe everywhere, online and offline, is the most crucial.
To describe the conversation as inspiring perhaps downplays the experience. If the heartbreaking daily headlines are not enough to re-energise institutional commitment to ending violence against women, I hope that reading Nelles’s words can catalyse the conversation. Signing the document meant for states to actively take on responsibility, to acknowledge and coordinate a response to end this social tragedy. The Istanbul Convention is in itself a powerful tool. Yet, monitoring its progress ensures countries are working towards an eventual dwelling, and do not stagnate by merely looking at the blueprint.
Berthet, V. (2022) Norm under fire: support for and opposition to the European Union’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention in the European Parliament. International feminist journal of politics. [Online] 24 (5), 675–698.
Roggeband, C., & Krizsan, A. (2024). The Violent Implications of Opposition to the Istanbul Convention