Bulgaria and the Istanbul Convention ? Law, Politics and Propaganda vs. the Rights of Victims of Gender-based Violence

• Author: Miriana Ilcheva
• Position: South-West University 'Neofit Rilski', Blagoevgrad, BULGARIA Faculty of Law and History. Center for the Study of Democracy, Sofia, BULGARIA Senior Analyst, Law Program
• Pages: 49-67

Center for Open Access in Science  https://www.centerprode.com/ojls.html

Open Journal for Legal Studies, 2020, 3(1), 49-68.

ISSN (Online) 2620-0619  https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojls.0301.04049i

__________________________________________________ _______________________

© Authors. Terms and conditions of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) apply.

Correspondence: Miriana Ilcheva, South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Faculty of Law and History,

Blagoevgrad, BULGARIA. E-mail: miriana@abv.bg.

Bulgaria and the Istanbul Convention – Law,

Politics and Propaganda vs. the Rights of Victims

of Gender-based Violence

Miriana Ilcheva1

South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Blagoevgrad, BULGARIA

Faculty of Law and History

Center for the Study of Democracy, Sofia, BULGARIA

Senior Analyst, Law Program

Received: 2 March 2020  Accepted: 18 May 2020  Published Online: 30 Ma y 2020

Abstract

The following article deals with the debate among institutions, victim support NGOs and various

religiously affiliated entities protecting “family values”, as regards the ratification by Bulgaria of

the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women

(Istanbul Convention). The debate was deeply influenced by an active campaign against the

document, which was ultimately declared by the country’s Constitutional Court unconstitutional.

The article t hen examines the long-lasting consequences of the campaign, having led to the

rejection of several other key victim protection documents and to the overall undermining of the

protection of victims of gender-based violence in Bulgaria.

Keywords: Istanbul Convention, debate, Constitutional Court, victim protection .

1. Introduction

Bulgaria signed the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating

violence against women (Istanbul Convention) on 21 April 2016

2 as part of its chairing the

Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. It became the 40th member state of the Council

of Europe to sign the document. The move earned the praise of human rights and victim protection

NGOs as the country pledged to prevent and counter all forms of gender-based violence.3 Political

1 PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law and History, Blagoevgrad, and employed as Senior Analyst in the

Center for the Study of Democracy, Sofia, BULGARIA.

2 Council of Europe (2016). Bulgaria signs the Istanbul Convention. Retrieved 27 February 2020, from

https://www.coe.int/en/web/istanbul-convention/newsroom/-

/asset_publisher/anlInZ5mw6yX/content/bulgaria-signs-the-istanbul-conv ention?inheritRedirect=false.

3 See, for example, Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation (2016). Bul garia signed the Council of Europe

Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul

Convention) г            

      г ддй Retrieved 27 February

2020, from

M. Ilcheva – Bulgaria and the Istanbul Convention – Law, Politics and Propaganda …

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50

will to ratify the Convention was profusely expressed by various officials on different occasions

4

and at the beginning of 2018 the Council of Ministers officially proposed to the National Assembly

to ratify the document. Already at this stage, it noted that the ratification would require

amendments not only in the victims protection legislation, but also in norms of the Criminal Code,

concerning gender-based violence, therefore such amendments were being prepared in relevant

criminal and also civil legislation.5 However, around the same time a wide propaganda-inspired

campaign ensued on the topic of ratification, resulting, among others, in a heated public discussion

organized by the Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament.6 In February 2018 75 MPs from the then

ruling party seized the Constitutional Court on the constitutionality of the Convention and in July

2018 it was pronounced unconstitutional.7 Thus, the ratification was effectively barred and the

only option before the country to counter gender-based violence remained to adopt its own, not

Convention-based legislative amendments, which, as will be shown in Section 3.4., it did rather

fragmentarily. Most recently, the European Parliament urged the six Member States (and the UK)

not having ratified the document to do so without delay.8 However, Bulgaria sustained its position

by adopting a negative opinion9 on the absence of mutual agreement between all the Member

http://bgrf.org/articles/%D0%B1%D1%8A%D0%BB%D0%B3%D0% B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F-

%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%B0-

%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F%D1% 82%D0%B0-

%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D1%81%D1%8A%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0 -%D0%BD%D0%B0-

%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B0-%D0%B7%D0%B0 -

%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B8%D1% 8F-%D0%B8-

%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B1%D0%B0-%D1%81-

%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BE -

%D1%81%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%89%D1%83-%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0% B8-%D0%B8-

%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%88%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%82% D0%BE-

%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B5-

%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B1%D1%83%D0%BB%D1% 81%D0%BA%D0%B0%

D1%82%D0%B0-%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%86%D 0%B8%D1%8F-

507.

4 See, for example, Ministry of Justice of the Republi c of Bulgaria (2017). Deputy Minister Ahladova:

Bulgaria is going to ratify the Ista nbul Convention гй- х  

  д. Retrieved on 27 February 2020, from

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:cvGgejfLNpEJ:https://jus tice.government.bg/

117/13759/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=bg.

5 Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria (2018). Agenda of the Council of Ministers session of 3

January 2018 г        лойлмйнлму йдй Retrieved on 27

February 2020, from https://government.bg/bg/prestsentar/zasedaniya-na-ms/dneven -red-na-

zasedanieto-na-ministerskiya-savet-na-03-01-2018-g.

6 National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria (2018). Public di scussion on the Draft Law on the

Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women

and domestic violence г       

              ). Retrieved

on 27 February 2020, from https://parliament.bg/bg/discussion.

7 Constitutional Court of the Republic of Bulgaria (2018). Decisio n No 13, Sofia, 27 July 2018, promulgated

SG issue 65/7 August 2018 г  мо, з нт  нлму й, гйз з й ср  лтйлуйнлму йдд.

Retrieved on 27 F ebruary 2020, from http://constcourt.bg/bg/Acts/GetHtmlContent/f27 8a156-9d25-

412d-a064-6ffd6f997310.

8 European Parliament (2019). EU accession to the Istanbul Convention a nd other measures to combat

gender-based violence. Retrieved on 27 February 2020, from

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2019-0080_ EN.html.

9 Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria (2019). Agenda of the Council of Ministers sessi on of 11

December 2019 г        11.12.2019 йд. Retrieved on 27