Czech Senate against the ratification of the Istanbul Gender Convention. Senators read the Ordo Iuris study

Adobe Stock

- The Senate of the Czech Republic has rejected a draft resolution to consent to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which questions the existence of two genders by introducing the concept of "socio-cultural gender" into the legal order - gender.

- The Czech portal 'Seznam Zprávy' revealed that, before the final decision was made, the senators read an analysis by the Ordo Iuris Institute, which in 2020 was translated into 17 languages, including the Czech language.

- Czech senators understand that states can introduce regulations that effectively protect against domestic violence without ratifying an ideological gender convention at the same time.

- Also in the Polish Sejm as early as 7 February, the reading of a draft to denounce the Istanbul Convention and replace it with the International Convention on the Rights of the Family is to take place.

"Czech senators, perhaps thanks to Ordo Iuris' analyses, understood that effective protection against domestic violence does not require ratification of the Istanbul Convention. A gender ideology-free alternative, also for Poland, is the International Convention on the Rights of the Family," concludes Advocate Nikodem Bernaciak, senior analyst at the Research and Analysis Centre of the Ordo Iuris Institute.

The Senate of the Czech Republic rejected the draft resolution to consent to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Of the 71 senators present, only 34 supported the proposal - 2 less than the required majority. 28 senators opposed and 9 did not cast a vote. The ratification process of the gender convention was initiated last year by the government, which forwarded the proposal to parliament on 21 June. According to Article 10 of the Czech Constitution, the consent to ratify an international agreement must be given by the entire parliament, thus not only the Chamber of Deputies, but also the Senate. In August, the resolution was debated by a committee of the Chamber of Deputies, which is due to discuss the matter again in February, this time responding to the Senate's veto.

During the debate on the draft resolution, the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee took a position. It was presented by Senator Zdeněk Hraba (ODS). According to the position, the Istanbul Convention "is an ideological document that in practice will not help victims of domestic violence". Senator Adéla Šípová (Piraci), on the other hand, presented the position of the Committee on European Union Affairs, which also opposed ratification, stating that the Convention "does not regulate anything that would not already be part of our criminal legislation in the field of violence against women and domestic violence", but instead "may give rise to significant contradictions in interpretation".

Senate Vice President Jiří Oberfalzer, in justifying his opposition to the Convention, pointed to the fact that it repeatedly uses the term 'gender' instead of 'sex', thereby blurring gender differences. He also cited the judgment of the Bulgarian Constitutional Court of 27 July 2018, which found the Convention incompatible with the Bulgarian Basic Law for analogous reasons. He stressed that the ideology permeating the Convention makes it clear that "if we do not address our children with indefinite pronouns and multiple names until they are sure of their gender, or if we do not send them to various educational courses on gender identification, we are committing domestic violence and this can be a crime". Senator Jitka Chalánková also cited the example of Slovakia, which by a majority of 95 out of 150 of all MPs rejected a draft resolution to ratify the Convention already four years ago - on 25 February 2020.

The Czech portal 'Seznam Zprávy' revealed that at least one senator had in his possession an analysis on the Istanbul Convention by the Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture. This refers to the material attached to the international petition 'Stop Gender. Stand for Family" (StopGenderConvention.org), launched on 9 June 2020 and translated into 17 languages - including the Czech language. The organisers of the petition recalled that 'the Convention directly attacks marriage and the family, seeing the differences between men and women as the source of violence' and 'it makes gender ideology the basis of state policy by making the objective biological concept of gender irrelevant and replacing it with an understanding of sexuality as a socio-cultural construct. It mandates the implementation of an ideological gender perspective at all levels of state policy".

The Ordo Iuris Institute, as an ethical alternative to the ideological gender convention, already proposed a draft International Convention on the Rights of the Family in 2018, which would, on the one hand, guarantee effective protection against domestic violence and, on the other hand, emphasise that a strong family is the space that protects all its members most effectively against violence. The bill in 2020 was submitted to the Sejm, having received the support of 150,000 citizens. In the Tenth Chamber of the Sejm, the draft was given the number of print 25 and is due to be debated in the Sejm on 7 February 2024.