Open Lecture

The Implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Europe and in Germany

Speaker: Dr. Ina Holznagel, Director, Ministry of Justice of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Moderator: Prof. Christoph Rademacher, Waseda University
Commentators: Prof. Shuichi Furuya (Waseda University), Prof. Tamio Nakamura (Waseda University)

Date: 2022.10.31 (Monday) 10:40-12:10
Venue: 203 (CTLT Classroom 3), Building 3, Waseda Campus, Waseda University (Google Map)
Languages: English & Japanese (consecutive translation)

Admission Free.

The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, is the most far-reaching international legal instrument to set out binding obligations to prevent and combat violence against women. The Istanbul Convention does not regard violence in families and partnership as mere expression of a failed relationship or an individual crime, but as a manifestation of the structural discrimination of women in society itself. Preventing and combating violence is thereby linked to the wider goal of achieving equality between women and men. Courts and prosecutors are faced with the difficult task of implementing these legal requirements in everyday procedural life without losing sight of the specifics of an individual case.

After an introduction to the legal nature and content of the Convention and the tools to monitor it, the lecture will shed light on the problems of implementation in Germany and discuss some typical cases from criminal and family law, in which the Istanbul Convention requires legal practitioners to say goodbye to some beloved traditional stereotypes.

Contact: tokyointl @ suou.waseda.jp

Host: Institute of Comparative Law, Waseda University.
Co-host: Faculty of Law, Waseda University.