Protecting Women against Violence in the Light of 2011 Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence

The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence 2011 (the Istanbul Convention) is the most recent treaty that directly addresses the issue of violence against women (VAW). This Convention has created a comprehensive and multi-faceted legal framework including the adoption of an interdisciplinary and multidimensional approach toward preventing and combating VAW and has presented a pervasive definition and interpretation of discrimination and its manifestations against women. Adopting an extensive method toward all forms of VAW and their criminalization, and generalizing the scope of Parties' obligations to armed conflicts and migration and asylum status in protecting women against all forms of violence are another features of the Convention. This Convention, through aforementioned characteristics, seeks to prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and girls and domestic violence. Not only does it develop and strengthen the legal regime regarding gender-based violence, the treaty can also be accessible to and acceded by third countries, which are not members of the Council of Europe. The present article aims to investigate the innovations and potential capabilities of Istanbul Convention as regards the reduction and elimination of VAW under an International Law perspective.