In May this year, the Council of Europe opened a new convention to combat violence against women and domestic violence. It has been signed by 17 countries now, but the UK isn’t one of them.

Sign our petition online at GoingToWork.org.uk

The convention (named CAHVIO) seeks to make sure countries are working towards a new minimum standard on violence against women. This would include; making sure they had a proper framework for protecting and assisting victims, promoting equality between women and men, and supporting law enforcement and international co-operation on eliminating violence against women.

The UK shouldn’t have any problem in signing up to these principles, but by not doing so, the government are weakening the hand of others in countries where a strong convention could start to address major problems in the handling of violence against women and domestic violence.

The UK has a double responsibility at the moment. Earlier this month, the country took over as chair of the Council of Europe for a six month term. At the time, the government promised to use the position to focus on promoting human rights. Yet not signing the CAHVIO convention undermines our leadership in this area and gives the impression we don’t see violence against women as a priority issue, in the UK or internationally.

Please sign our petition to Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Equalities, Lynne Featherstone, asking her to commit the UK to signing the CAHVIO convention.

Sign the petition online at GoingToWork.org.uk