On the evening of October 30, the Latvian Seimas in the second, final, reading approved a draft law on denouncing the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). This was reported by the Latvian media.
It is reported that the debate in parliament lasted 12 hours. 56 deputies voted for the approval of the bill, 32 were against, two more abstained. Within ten days, the President of the Republic Edgars Rinkevics must sign the bill or return it to the Seimas for reconsideration. If the bill is signed by the president, Latvia will become the first EU country to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention. Turkey did it earlier. At the same time, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia and Armenia signed the document, but never ratified it.
On the eve of the evening, a rally was held near the Latvian parliament building in Riga, at which those gathered protested against the denunciation of the Istanbul Convention. The posters contained slogans against domestic violence, as well as accusations of populism and "harboring rapists." A number of demonstrators accused the Latvian authorities of "copying Russia", since Moscow did not sign the 2011 convention developed by the Council of Europe.
The Istanbul Convention classifies violence against women as a violation of human rights. The document has been ratified by 38 European states, as well as Georgia. Critics of the convention in Latvia believe that it contradicts traditional family values. In particular, some criticize the document for defining the concept of "gender", which goes beyond biological sex and defines it as a social construct.