Latvians rebuke parliament in rare mass protest

The Istanbul Convention – officially The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence – has become subject to a heated political dispute within the Latvian parliament.

The very same Saeima – as Latvia’s parliament is called – that had formally ratified the Convention just two years ago, has in recent weeks become embroiled in a bizarre debate over seemingly trivial details in the convention’s text. This ultimately resulted in a parliamentary majority voting to withdraw from the Convention. Meanwhile, Latvia leads Europe in femicide rates.

It would have marked the first time an EU country withdraws from the Istanbul Convention. Ultimately, fierce demonstrations by the otherwise ‘protes-averse’ Latvians prevented the withdrawal — for now. I wrote a news article on the protests, including much-needed context, in Dutch for RAAM.