Violence Against Women (VAW)

Violence against women (VAW) is a worldwide issue. It affects many women and young girls around the world. A current report on violence against women in the EU demonstrates that an expected 13 million women in the EU (i.e. 7% of women between the ages 18-74) have encountered physical violence throughout the a year prior to the overview interviews. Besides, one out of three women (33%) has encountered physical and additionally sexual violence since she was 15 years of age. The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence 2011 (the Istanbul Convention) is the latest treaty to straightforwardly address the issue of VAW in Europe. Over the most recent couple of decades, different advances

The Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 1979 (CEDAW; regularly alluded to as "The Women's Convention") unequivocally prohibits all types of discrimination against women (Article 2). This paper will be discussing the drafting of the Istanbul Convention. Many cases have influenced this paper, one of which is the most important of such larges cases. It was taken upon in the Chamber of the European Council of Human Rights and was later named one of the most important cases regarding VAW. Firstly, an explanation of the historical background on the Istanbul Convention will be given, following a detailed outline of the infamous case of Opuz v Turkey. In the third paragraph, facts of the Istanbul Convention certain Articles of this convention will be discussed. These three paragraphs conjoined, will be then discussed in the fourth and final paragraph of this paper where an attempt of answering the research question will be

They married in 2005 and had three children together after which they divorced. Between 1995 and 1998, four incidents occurred of H.O’s violent and threatening behaviour towards both, Opuz and her mother. These behaviours included several beatings, during which H.O pulled out a knife, and other incidents during which he ran the two women down with his car. According to records, the injuries suffered by both these women were life-threatening. Criminal proceedings were brought up against H.O on three occasions for death threats, aggravated, actual, and grievous bodily harm, as well as attempted murder. H.O remanded in custody twice and released pending jail. Opuz and her mother submitted complaints but withdrew them during the proceedings, and the court therefore discontinued the case, but sentenced H.O to three months imprisonment after the car incident. This sentence was later commuted to a fine. The mother claimed that the withdrawal of their previous complaints was due to H.O’s pressure and death threats and demanded that H.O be detained on remand after stabbing her daughter. When Opuz’s mother moved to another city in Turkey, H.O shot her dead. Subsequently, H.O was convicted with murder as well as possessing an illegal firearm, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. However, he claimed he shot her because his honour had been at stake which then granted him his release. Once released,