The Hungarian Parliament passed with overwhelming majority (115 to 35 votes) a political resolution rejecting the Istanbul Convention on the grounds that it promotes gender theory and migration.
The parliament noted that the elements it agrees with in the document, such as its emphasis on protecting women’s rights and fighting domestic violence, are already built into Hungarian law, which means there was no reason for Hungary to ratify 2011 document.
The Istanbul Convention, an initiative of the Council of Europe that was adopted by the council’s Committee of Ministers on April 7, 2011, in Istanbul, has long been deemed controversial for its many clauses in support of LGBT causes and pro-migration causes.
The motion was sponsored by Hungary’s junior coalition partner the Christian Democratic Party (KDNP), which said in the justification that “the document wants to force upon countries the definition of social genders and with it the introduction of the destructive gender theory and also wants to force countries to grant asylum based on gender.”
While Hungary was among the 45 countries that signed the Istanbul Convention after a three-year delay in 2014, it was never ratified by the Hungarian Parliament, hence is not part of the Hungarian legal system.
István Hollik, communications director of senior coalition partner Fidesz said “Hungary does not need the Istanbul Convention to effectively fight violence against women”.
While opposition parties accused Fidesz, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Speaker of the House László Kövér, also from Fidesz, of “waging war against women”, a Fidesz statement said the opposition should desist from misinterpreting Kövér’s words when the situation was the exact opposite of what they claim.
“Women deserve respect and appreciation, and the entire European culture is based on the equality of women,” the statement said, adding that opposition parties were the ones who did not vote the amendment of the country’s penal code which introduced harsher punishments for violence against women and children.
KDNP said Hungarians had a sovereign right to reject values that go against traditional, national ones.
“We have a right to defend our country, our culture, our laws, traditions, and national values, which should not be threatened by either the gender theory that goes against the beliefs of the majority of the population or by immigration without bounds, or preferential immigration based on gender,” KDNP caucus leader Lprinc Nacsa said.
Title image: Hungarian Parliament debates the motion against the Istanbul Convention. (MTI/Tamás Kovács)
