Opened for signature in Istanbul ten years ago, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention) is considered today’s most far-reaching international treaty to set out binding obligations to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence. The Istanbul Convention also acknowledges violence against women as social and cultural construct and therefore advocates for the transformation of social norms and attitudes as a perquisite to end violence against women. 

Combating violence against women and girls is a priority in the mission of the North South Centre of the Council of Europe. Since 2011, the North-South Centre has been working with a wide range of stakeholders in Europe, the Middle East and Africa - especially with women-led organisations and women rights activists, at the frontline of this struggle - to support regional efforts to end violence against women. This was articulated – and continues to be so – through promoting the Istanbul Convention as an international tool that could serve as a reference to enhance adequate cooperation and coordination at different levels to better address this transborder plague. 

The founding principles of the Convention, based on human rights and victim-centred approaches, are promoted in the North-South Centre’s projects. 
Currently, In the framework of the joint programme between the European Union and the Council of Europe "Regional Support to Reinforce Human rights, Rule of Law and Democracy in the Southern Mediterranean" (South Programme IV), the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe leads a project which aims at strengthening the capacities of civil society in the region to improve the protection and support provided to victims of violence against women and domestic violence. Eight civil society organisations specialised in the provision of protection services for women victims will benefit from a grant and a training on the protection of victims in the Southern Mediterranean based on the Istanbul Convention provisions, as well as guidance to implement a project related to the current challenges.
A second project, “Promoting diversity and equality”, supported by the governments of Spain and Portugal, is dedicated at combating the roots causes of violence against women and girls, sexism and harmful stereotypes.   
The educational activities carried out within the Global Education Programme, aimed at encouraging the deployment of multiple perspectives through empathy, respect for others and the deconstruction of stereotypes, echo the objectives of the Istanbul Convention. 

On its tenth anniversary, the North-South Centre joins the international efforts to put in value the Istanbul Convention, which sets a good example of how Council of Europe’s pioneering standards in the fields of human rights, rule of law and gender equality, if fully implemented, would bring member states closer to real equality between women and men.

 Explore the dedicated website 10 years of the Istanbul Convention.