Hungary will ratify the Istanbul Convention, which fights against violence against women

“We are making a clear and responsible commitment to end the era of inaction. » Hungary announced measures in favor of women's rights on Thursday November 12, including the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. This was announced by Péter Magyar, Hungarian Prime Minister, in a video on Facebook, emphasizing that 44 MPs from his Tisza party had proposed this initiative.

His predecessor as head of government, Viktor Orbán, was opposed to the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, saying that this treaty supported "gender ideology". The Istanbul Convention, an international treaty of the Council of Europe, entered into force in 2014. All EU member countries have signed the treaty but five of them, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia, have still not ratified it.

Péter Magyar also announced that the government would remove a 2022 regulation on "fetal heartbeat" that required women to listen to fetal vital signs before an abortion. Emergency contraceptive pills, known as "morning after pills", will be available without a doctor's prescription to prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce the number of abortions, he added.