Latvia’s President rejects bill to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention on violence against women

Brussels – The President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, has announced that he will not sign the bill passed on October 30 by Riga’s Parliament to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, the international treaty on preventing and combating violence against women. Should the House go ahead and confirm the decision, at that point the President will be practically forced to step aside, and Latvia will become the first EU country to withdraw from the Convention.

 In a letter addressed to the President of the Saeima, the Latvian Parliament, Rinkēvičs raised some concerns and fears, including the impact on the Baltic country’s credibility and its commitment to international obligations within the European legal framework. In fact, the European Union itself ratified the treaty two years ago, obliging all member states – even the few reticent ones that had not yet done so, including Latvia at the time – to comply with the Istanbul Convention. 

Rinkēvičs, a member of the center-right Unity party, the same as the premier Evika Siliņa, pointed out that Latvia’s withdrawal would be the first case of an EU member state abandoning an international human rights treaty. He warned that this could set a dangerous precedent and threaten the common architecture of the rule of law in Europe.

While admitting that “there is no doubt that it is the Saeima that has the right to decide on Latvia’s withdrawal from an international agreement approved by the Saeima,” the president argues that “the necessary preparatory work has not been completed for such a withdrawal to be adequately justified.” According to Rinkēvičs, withdrawing from the Convention before the drafting of a comprehensive national law on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence would create a legal vacuum and uncertainty, weakening the mechanisms for protecting victims. 

In his letter to the President of the Parliament, Daiga Mieriņa – who, following the Brussels decision, had voted for the ratification of the Convention two years ago and last week against – Rinkēvičs suggested that the next Saeima, which will take office after the elections scheduled for next autumn, could examine the issue.

The fact is that the Latvian President has the constitutional right to refer the matter back to the House, but he cannot unilaterally overturn a decision of Parliament. If Parliament, after a second reading, decides not to accept the President’s objections, the latter cannot reject the law again, unless he is willing to trigger a constitutional confrontation that could jeopardize his own presidency.

In that case, the last resort would be a potential referendum on the repeal of the law. The progressive universe – and not only, given the positions of the president and the premier, both moderate conservatives – has already mobilized, with over 60,000 signatures calling on Rinkēvičs to step aside.