Committee of the Parties

In brief : Role of the Committee of the Parties

The political body of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) monitoring mechanism, the Committee of the Parties, is composed of the representatives of the Parties to the Convention.

The Committee of the Parties is tasked to elect the members of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), as stated in paragraph 2 of Article 67. On the basis of the reports and conclusions of GREVIO, it also adopts recommendations indicating the measures to be taken to implement the conclusions contained in GREVIO’s report. It also supervises the implementation of its own recommendations once the three-year period for implementation has ended, using a standardised reporting form that state parties are requested to complete as applicable according to the supervision procedure adopted at its 10th meeting on 13 April 2021.

On 26 September 2023, the Committee of the Parties elected a new Bureau, composed of Ambassador Tanja Gonggrijp (the Netherlands) as its Chair, Ambassador Gilberto Jerónimo (Portugal) as First Vice-Chair, and Ambassador Daniela Cujbă (Republic of Moldova) as Second Vice-Chair, for a term of office taking effect immediately and ending on 31 January 2024.

The monitoring by the Committee of the Parties - adoption of recommendations and the supervision of their implementation

While all state parties are required to implement the full set of suggestions and proposals made by GREVIO, the Committee of the Parties issues recommendations to state parties that are based on the findings of GREVIO but less in number. It focuses in its recommendations on those areas which GREVIO found to require urgent or more immediate action. As a result, the number of recommendations addressed by the Committee of the Parties to a state party is less than the number of findings made by GREVIO but reflects the priorities as indicated by GREVIO. In its recommendations, the Committee of the Parties requests the state party to report back to the Committee after three years on the measures taken.

In order to streamline the reporting, the Committee of the Parties requests state parties to use a standardised reporting form, which focuses on recommendations emanating from a maximum of eight areas of the Convention, common for all states parties, and from two areas specifically selected for each state. On the basis of the information provided by states parties and any additional information obtained from non-governmental organisations, civil society and national institutions for the protection of human rights, the Committee adopts conclusions on the implementation of its recommendations in relation to each state party under review. The conclusions welcome the measures taken in implementation and requests, where necessary, that further measures be taken within a two-year period.