Ukraine refuses to support the Instabul Convention

Ukraine’s parliament refused to endorse on 17 November 2016 the ratification of the Council of Europe's Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

Members of the parliament argued that its references to sexual orientation and gender violated what they mentioned as basic Christian values.

This document, also called Istanbul Convention, characterises domestic abuse and discrimination based on sexual orientation as violations of human rights.It was adopted by the Council of Europe in 2011.