Shadow Report on Istanbul Convention implementation in Finland

31/03/2018

On 30 March 2018, the End FGM European Network and its Finnish member, the Finnish League for Human Rights, submitted a Shadow Report to the Council of Europe GREVIO Committee, on the implementation of the Istanbul Convention by Finland concerning prevention, protection, prosecution and integrated policies on FGM (see background information). Despite this report focuses only on this harmful practice, its aim is not to single it out in isolation, but just to put emphasis on it while still seeing it in the continuum of gender-based violence against women and girls and in a holistic and comprehensive manner.

This report represents the Finnish chapter of a wider coordinated effort of End FGM EU to engage all its members in countries who are under GREVIO revision to present an FGM-focused report is order to bring to the experts’ attention the topic, which is too often neglected by State authorities. This project somehow stems from our Guide on the Istanbul Convention as a tool to end female genital mutilation. It puts in practice the Guide’s holistic approach by considering its full application to FGM as a form of violence against women and girls which needs to be addressed through prevention, protection, prosecution and integrated policies. It does not only analyse the application of the specific FGM Article 38 of the Istanbul Convention, but addresses the full range of articles in the Convention and how they are applied to tackle FGM in Finland.

NEXT STEPS

After analysing the information gathered from the Finnish government, civil society and other international bodies, the GREVIO Committee will invite the Finnish authorities for a face-to-face dialogue in Strasbourg in September 2018. Afterwards, the experts will conduct a country visit, to take place in October 2018 which will help them gather first-hand country evidence and testimonies. All these steps will contribute to the redaction of the GREVIO Report on the Finnish implementation of the Istanbul Convention, which will be published in July 2019.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (known as the “Istanbul Convention”) is the first legally binding instrument recognising that FGM is also a European issue. It is shaped around the ‘four Ps approach’ (prevention, protection, prosecution and integrated policies) to end violence against women and includes a specific Article (38) on criminalisation of FGM.

In order to ensure an independent monitoring of its correct national implementation, the Istanbul Convention established the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), a monitoring body which undertakes periodic revision of State Parties to the Convention. To this purpose, the GREVIO Committee engages in dialogue with states and receives information by NGOs and other international and national human rights bodies. At the end of such reviews, GREVIO drafts and publishes reports evaluating legislative and policy measures taken by the Parties to give effects to the provisions of the Convention, points out shortcomings and makes concrete recommendations.

Read full PDF here.