Turkey to sign INT'L convention on violence against women

Council of Europe members are set to ink a convention Wednesday on combating violence against women, fulfilling an effort the body’s deputy secretary-general initiated in 2005. Turkey will be among the first countries to sign the convention during the Istanbul meeting of foreign ministers of the organization, which brings together 47 countries. “I am grateful to the Turkish presidency, since it has played an active role in drafting the convention and has been very insistent on finalizing the draft for the meeting in Istanbul,” said Maud de Boer Buquicchio. Turkey has held the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of Europe since Nov. 1. It will hand the post over to Ukraine on Wednesday during the Istanbul meeting. According to de Boer Buquicchio, it was not an easy task to reach a consensus on the text as some countries found some of the convention’s far-reaching provisions difficult to implement at the national level.