Poland to renounce treaty on violence against women, says minister

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland will take steps next week to withdraw from a European treaty on violence against women, which the right-wing cabinet says violates parents’ rights by requiring schools to teach children about gender, it said on Saturday. the minister of justice.

Zbigniew Ziobro said at a press conference that his ministry will submit a request to the ministry of labor and families on Monday to begin the process of withdrawing from the treaty, known as the Istanbul Convention.

“It contains elements of an ideological nature, which we consider harmful,” said Ziobro.

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and its coalition partners closely align with the Catholic Church and promote a conservative social agenda. Hostility to gay rights was one of the main problems promoted by President Andrej Duda during a successful reelection campaign this month.

On Friday thousands of people, mostly women, protested in Warsaw and other cities against proposals to reject the treaty.

“The goal is to legalize domestic violence,” said Magdalena Lempart, one of the organizers of the protest on Friday at a march in Warsaw. Some protesters carried placards saying “PiS is women’s hell.”

PiS has long complained about the Istanbul Convention, which Poland ratified under a previous centrist government in 2015. The government says the treaty is disrespectful of religion and requires the teaching of liberal social policies in schools, albeit in the past did not come to the decision to leave.

Ziobro, the justice minister, represents a smaller right-wing party within the ruling coalition. A government spokesman was not available Saturday to comment on whether Ziobro’s announcement of plans to withdraw from the treaty represented a collective cabinet decision.

The World Health Organization says that domestic violence has increased this year in Europe during the months of confinement aimed at fighting the coronavirus.