The green opposition LMP marked International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Monday, calling on the government to ratify the Istanbul Convention and step up efforts to combat domestic abuse against women.
The Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention obliges states that ratify it to release regular statistics, Krisztina Hohn of the LMP group told a press conference. Ratifying the convention would also force Hungary to make its criminal code stricter and it would stipulate that police should get training on how to handle domestic abuse, she added.
Perpetrators of violence would be obliged to undergo treatment and victims would be eligible for help, she said.
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Millions of people in Hungary have been subjected to emotional abuse within their family, and hundreds of thousands have suffered physical violence, she said, adding that almost 300,000 have been victims of sexual abuse. Hohn added that in many cases procedures were not launched because the perpetrators were people of influence.
She rejected claims by the justice minister who has argued that the situation of women in Hungary is good and the government is going to great lengths to combat domestic violence.
In the featured photo: KLMP MP risztina Hohn. Photo by Attila Kovács/MTI