The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women (Istanbul Convention, CETS No. 210) covers various forms of genderbased violence, which is defined as “violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately” (Article 3.d).
Fear and anxiety take over every aspect of the daily life of a woman victim of stalking and trying to cope prevents her from holding down a job, being in a relationship, caring for children, etc. It is extremely difficult for victims to put an end to the stalking and to seek justice. Some Council of Europe member states do not have specific legislation on stalking, either in criminal or in civil law. In many languages, there is not even a word for stalking, which says a lot about how little accepted the concept is – or was.
The Istanbul Convention recognises this and offers, for the first time, a set of measures to combat stalking and to support its victims. The monitoring of its implementation is showing good progress in the level of criminalisation of this offence.
