No more gender convention. International pro-family coalition’s conference

Ordo Iuris

The Istanbul Convention undermines the autonomy and the identity of family and restricts the parents’ right to raise children. It ignores the real causes of violence, such as addictions or family disintegration, and looks for its causes in “stereotypical” gender roles. The Ordo Iuris Institute, together with a coalition of experts and leaders from pro-family organisations representing 11 countries, initiated a movement against the EU’s approval of the convention. They took part in a press conference, which triggered an international initiative against the EU’s implementation of the document. If the convention is ratified, the EU will be able to interfere with family life without having a basis in treaties. There is a petition at stopgenderconvention.org against the ideological plans of the European Commission.

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The Ordo Iuris Institute hosted the conference. Guests from abroad participated in an online event. The conference was opened by Dr. Tymoteusz Zych, Vice-president of the Ordo Iuris Board.

“The goal of the international coalition is to protect the family and national sovereignty. Together we object to the ideologisation of international law,” he said.

Karolina Pawłowska, Director of the Centre of the International Law at Ordo Iuris, talked about the current misinterpretation of countermeasures for violence.

“Fighting the violence against women and children should be our priority. People who believe that the Istanbul Convention aims to fight domestic violence have been deceived. There is no mention of the real causes of violence in the articles about that convention,” she explained.

Slovakia was one of the countries whose parliament rejected the Istanbul Convention. The objection against the gender document in Slovakia was emphasised by Patrik Daniska from Inštitút pre ľudské práva a rodinnú politiku.

“Our identity, as men and women, is deeply rooted in our biology. We cannot separate cultural gender from biological gender. The Istanbul Convention interpreted it differently. Biological differences are beneficial for us, as a society. In the petition available at stopgenderconvention.org, we emphasise the fact that there is no international permission for the interpretation of “gender”, i.e. cultural gender, as shared in the Istanbul Convention,” he said.

Dr. Željka Markić, from a Croatian organisation U ime obitelji, talked about the EU’s interference with the internal matters of individual countries.

“We will continue to push the European Union to respect the sovereignty of all member states. It is unacceptable to impose gender ideology on all 28 member states. We support the protection of women but we do not accept forced artificial concepts with purposes other than protection of women and children,” she commented.

Dr Eszter Párkányi, from the Hungarian Center for Fundamental Rights, pointed out the far-reaching consequences of the EU’s implementation of the Istanbul Convention.

“The Istanbul Convention forces us to legally acknowledge that cultural gender is solely a social concept and that family or our children have nothing to do with biology. In the future, religious views rejecting gender ideology will be considered as discriminative. We cannot let the EU conduct this social experiment. After gaining a full understanding of the convention’s meaning, the Hungarian government decided not to ratify it,” she added.

The conference was summarised by Magdalena Olek, Deputy Director of the Centre of the International Law at Ordo Iuris. She emphasised that pursuing approval of the convention by the EU will cause resistance among the member states.

“Even though the member states did not accept gender ideology, the European Commission continues to implement the Istanbul Convention,” she stated.