Poland to withdraw from treaty on violence against women

Poland will take steps next week to withdraw from a European treaty on violence against women, which the rightwing cabinet has said violates parents’ rights by requiring schools to teach children about gender.

The justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, told a news conference on Saturday his ministry would submit a request to the labour and families ministry 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,” Ziobro said.

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and its coalition partners closely align themselves with the Catholic church and promote a conservative social agenda. Hostility to gay rights was one of the main issues promoted by President Andrzej Duda during a successful re-election campaign this month.

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

“The aim is to legalise domestic violence,” Marta Lempart, one of the protest organisers, said on Friday at a march in Warsaw. Some protesters carried banners saying “PiS is the 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 towards religion and requires teaching liberal social policies in schools, although in the past it has stopped short of a decision to quit.

Ziobro represents a smaller rightwing party within the ruling coalition. A government spokesman was not available on Saturday for comment on whether Ziobro’s announcement of plans to quit the treaty represented a collective cabinet decision.

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