Istanbul Convention: Lawmakers Should Reject Expansion of Divisive and Destructive Marxist Ideology

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Rebecca Hain

Istanbul Convention: Lawmakers Should Reject Expansion of Divisive and Destructive Marxist Ideology

January 23, 2023 – The Istanbul Convention (IC) is known to be Marxist-inspired because it is consistent with Marxist ideology and utilizes the tactics of authoritarian regimes. Members of the European Parliament should strongly oppose any move to strengthen the effects of Marxist ideology on European law.

Consistent with Marxist Ideology

Marxism seeks to abolish social distinctions of class and sex. In the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx posited that women were treated as second-class citizens. In his Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State, Friedrich Engels claimed that “In the family, [the man] is the bourgeois; the wife represents the proletariat.” (1)

Accordingly, the preamble to the IC calls for the “de facto” equality between men and women, meaning there should be no social differences between the sexes. Human rights advocate Ina Vukic reveals, “aiming for the de facto equality between women and men was already tried by the Soviet Union and the Marxist governments that ruled over Eastern Europe until 1989…As history proved, that did not work out well.” (2)

Multiple studies reveal that in Europe, domestic violence rates by men and women are the same (3). Despite this fact, the IC ignores the existence of female-perpetrated violence, revealing the real aim of the Istanbul Convention is not the elimination of domestic violence.

Mimics the Tactics of Authoritarian Regimes

The Istanbul Convention emulates the methods of authoritarian regimes in four ways:

Authoritarian regimes designate certain groups – “untermensch” in German — to serve as targets for public ridicule and scorn. Accordingly, the Convention’s Preamble makes this remarkable claim: “Recognizing that violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between women and men, which have led to domination over, and discrimination against, women by men and to the prevention of the full advancement of women…” This statement fails to account for the many ways by which men historically have endured physical privations, the vast majority of occupational deaths, and shorter lifespans, in comparison to women. (4)
Article 4 of the Istanbul Convention states, in Orwellian manner, “Special measures that are necessary to prevent and protect women from gender-based violence shall not be considered discrimination under the terms of this Convention.” This Article recalls Article 48 issued in 1933 during the Weimar Republic, allowing for the imposition of emergency decrees without parliamentary approval. Article 4 is an open-ended invitation to curtail the fundamental human rights of men.
Article 27 of the IC states, “Parties shall take the necessary measures to encourage any person …who has reasonable grounds to believe that such an act [of violence] may be committed…to report this to the competent organisations or authorities.” This provision recalls the East German Ministry for State Security, commonly known as Stasi, that employed 91,000 informants to monitor the actions of citizens. (5)
The IC concentrates enormous power in the hands of GREVIO, the group of “experts” designated to monitor the implementation of the IC. Under Article 66, GREVIO “shall adopt its own rules of procedure.” None of the GREVIO procedures or reports require approval by the Council of Europe.

Commentator Sean Parker summarizes, “The Istanbul Convention will extend this spirit of one-eyed vitriol to the sphere of domestic violence, which thorough research tells us is promulgated in a half of cases by women, and is frequently at its most virulent in female same-sex couples.” (6)

Historical accounts of Russia, Italy, Britain, Sweden, Yugoslavia, and elsewhere reveal the devastating and long-lasting effects of Marxist ideology on the human rights of citizens. (7) The current debates by the Council of Europe recall the chilling words of Spanish philosopher George Santayana who once predicted, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

The Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance – DAVIA — consists of 70 member organizations from 25 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. DAVIA seeks to ensure that domestic violence and abuse polices are science-based, family-affirming, and sex-inclusive. https://endtodv.org/davia/

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