‘Ratification of the Istanbul Convention is indispensable condition for strengthening responsibility of family violence,’ said Iryna Herashchenko, the First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine at the meeting with members of the Working Party on Eastern Europe and Central Asia (COEST).
A keen interest was given by the parties to the reforms conducted by the Parliament, opposing anti-corruption, protection of human rights, decentralization, security and humanitarian issues in Donbas. The European principle of equality of rights would be the ground for implementation of reforms in Ukraine.
The activities under the Inter-fractional alliance ‘Equal Rights’ were too viewed at the meeting. The alliance is focused on enhancing the protection of rights of women and children, and initiation of bills on gender balance and equality in rights for men and women.
The ratification prospects of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the so-called ‘Istanbul Convention’) hit the highlight of the meeting. The Convention offers an integrated approach to combating violence against women. I.Herashchenko clarified there was a broad front of informational and educational works aimed at the ratification. Poland and Georgia already ratified the Istanbul Convention and it would pay to learn their experiences for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Regarding the anti-graft advances throughout the country, I.Herashchenko informed the European colleagues that Ukraine had adopted the most stringent set of anti-corruption laws providing for criminal responsibility against, for one, falsification of e-declarations. The current mission was to create conditions when the newly established anti-graft bodies would be able to operate independently.
The presidential aide called on members of the Working Party on Eastern Europe and Central Asia (COEST) to support the reforms on the Ukrainian government and Parliament’s calendars.
Touching the Minsk accords, the TCG subgroup’s representative I.Herashchenko stressed that the political cluster of the agreements could only be settled as the aftermath of its security and humanitarian issues. She also occasionally reminded that the security issue had to be the core one, and the SRDLO still held captive 128 Ukrainian hostages. All the OSCE SMM activities in Donbas had persistently been interfered with.
The European delegates expressed their support to Ukraine’s initiatives in the reforming and gave a word of advice to formalize through making it legally binding, the smooth operation of the anti-corruption bodies as soon as possible.