Finland Times

A regional conference on the Council of Europe convention, known as the Istanbul Convention to combat violence against women and domestic violence will be held in Finland's capital Helsinki today.

Jointly organized by the the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Council of Europe and the Finnish delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Finland Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will inaugurate the conference, said a foreign ministry press release.

The purpose of the conference is to increase the awareness of the Istanbul Convention among the parliamentarians, NGOs, the media and other professionals. It will also discuss the benefits and challenges of ratification, as well as to share positive experiences and good practices.

Representatives of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Poland and Russia will take part in the conference where several international and national experts will speak.

Violence against women, including domestic violence, is a violation of human rights as well as a form of discrimination and a serious global problem. The Istanbul Convention is the first legally binding European Convention and globally the most far-reaching agreement to address the problem of violence against women.

The objectives of the Convention are to prevent and eliminate violence, protect victims and to see that perpetrators of acts of violence are prosecuted. It also seeks to influence individuals' attitudes and ways of thinking in order to eliminate violence from society. An objective of the Convention is also to eradicate all forms of discrimination against women and to promote actual equality between women and men.

Finland signed the Istanbul Convention in May 2011, and the intention is to submit the Government's proposal on ratification of the Convention to the Finnish Parliament in 2013. The Convention is not yet in force internationally.