American- Israeli scientist files his opinion to Constitutional Tribunal in Istanbul Convention case

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· Professor Eugene Kontorovich, Israeli lawyer specialized in constitutional and international law sent amici curiae (“friend of the court”) opinion in Istanbul Convention case to Polish Constitutional Tribunal.

· Legal argumentation presented by professor contributed to denial of the Convention by Israel.

· In his opinion Professor Kontorovich points that the Convention puts many obligations on state-parties, which execution may be problematic in democratic state of law.

· Author of the opinion also underlines that many of solutions accepted by the Convention are of ideological nature.

READ THE OPINION

In 2020 Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki filed a motion to Constitutional Tribunal to examine of compliance of Istanbul Convention with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Proceeding is ongoing, and its opinion on the case filed also Ordo Iuris Institute, pointing that many of Convention provisions are extremely inconsistent with Polish basic act.

Professor Eugene Kontorovich, an Israeli lawyer, decided to file his opinion on the case to the Constitutional Tribunal. His legal argumentation contributed to denial of the Convention by Israel.

Eugene Kontorovich is a profesor of constitutional and international law. He earned his education at University of Chicago. He was also a lecturer in Northwestern University School of Law, and currently he is giving lecture in Antonin Scalia Law School of George Mason University. Moreover, he is head of international law department in Kohelet Policy Forum, the Israeli biggest think-tank. In his scientific and public activity he speaks about Istanbul Convention for many times.

As we can read in opinion of professor Kantorovich: The Convention is not just a treaty, it is a crusade. As the Council of Europe proudly states, the treaty is “a manifesto, laying down a vision of society in which … gender equality is fully achieved.” Unlike perhaps any other such international agreement, the Istanbul Convention has the express goal of remaking society. The Convention proceeds from a thesis that physical violence against women is not caused by the individual depravity of the perpetrators, but ultimately by distant “root causes.” These root causes include all social attitudes and traditions about the roles of men and women that cast men and women in differential, or “stereotyped” roles.

Professor also indicates that Convention is a danger to freedom of speech, can be a cause to rise of clear preferences for leftist NGOs, and also can lead to many other problems which can be tied to extended interpretation by the committee established to monitor its enforcement by state-parties, called GREVIO.