AUCCRO explains why it is impossible to ratify the Istanbul Convention

In their address to the leadership of the state and ministries, the All-Ukraine Council of Churches and Religious Organizations reminded that the people of Ukraine in their majority do not support the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing violence against women and domestic violence and combating these phenomena (the Istanbul Convention). The reason for this is the gender ideology imposed by this document, which does not concern protection from domestic violence. Still, it significantly harms the moral foundations and family values of Ukrainian society.

In December 2019, a petition on the website of the President of Ukraine # 22/074484-EP against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention collected the necessary 25 thousand votes. Yet the public did not see a noticeable reaction from the President of Ukraine and the Government. Instead, the opposite petition in may 2020 prompted the government to actively promote the idea of ratification of the Istanbul Convention in Ukraine.

According to the AUCCRO, the lack of consensus in Ukrainian society on gender ideology, where the concept of "sex" is replaced by the concept of "gender" with its currently defined more than fifty varieties, prevents the ratification of the Istanbul Convention.

This distorted approach, which contradicts the natural order of sexual identification, can make the Istanbul Convention a political and legal tool for promoting the new "genders" and same-sex relationships in Ukrainian schools and universities. This concern is since the Convention explicitly provides for the obligations of signatory states to train students in "non-stereotypical gender roles" (article 14 of the Convention).

Gender ideology has negative consequences in the form of psychological disorders, especially among children. After all, according to authoritative scientific research, the rate of suicide cases reaches 41% among transgender people, which is several times higher than among the rest of the population (4.6%), who do not suffer from gender dysphoria.

The popularization of the idea of gender identity is dangerous for the future of Ukrainian society, given the disastrous demographic situation in Ukraine. Therefore, those who promote the Istanbul Convention oppose the future of Ukraine.

The AUCCRO, without interfering in the personal life of each person, strongly opposes the fact that public authorities promote same-sex relationships and prefer gender ideology, contrary to the provisions of the Constitution prohibiting state ideology.

Instead of ratifying the Istanbul Convention, religious leaders call for the development of national legislation in Ukraine to combat domestic violence and violence against women, as do other European countries that also refused to ratify this Convention (Great Britain, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Moldova, Armenia).