Kiev, July 19, 2022
Photo: glavcom.ua
Despite repeated protests from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and other religious organizations, Ukraine has officially completed the ratification of the controversial “Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence,” better known as the Istanbul Convention.
A number of countries and Orthodox Churches have also warned that the Convention is a trojan horse for LGBT and gender ideology.
However, Marija Pejčinović Burić, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, welcomed the move from Ukraine in a tweet, noting that it’s the 36th country to ratify “this landmark treaty.”
The Ukrainian Parliament approved the Convention last month. President Zelensky then signed the law on ratification on June 21, and the document on ratification has now been officially submitted. The Convention will enter into force in Ukraine on November 1.
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine and other UOC hierarchs and lay organizations have repeatedly warned about the dangerous ideology hiding under the pretext of addressing domestic violence. “There are ideological landmines hidden in the Istanbul Convention that can undermine Ukrainian society,” Met. Onuphry told the President in December.
“The essence of the Istanbul Convention is to destroy at the legislative level the concept of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, as well as traditional ideas about family values,” His Eminence Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye also said in December.
As His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of the Moldovan Church wrote in October, one of the most controversial aspects of the Convention is its definition of “gender” as “socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities and attributes, which a given society considers appropriate for women and men.”
The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations again appealed to the Verkhovna Rada in June, urging it not to ratify such a controversial document that will undoubtedly cause societal conflicts, especially in wartime. However, the Rada adopted the Convention just days later.
The Council of Churches condemned the fact of the ratification, which took place without due public discussion.
The Istanbul Convention has also been condemned by the Bulgarian, Moldovan, and Polish Churches.
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