The Istanbul Convention as an interpretative tool at the European and national levels

This chapter explores the impact of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) as interpretative tool at European level. It suggests that the legal instrument can be used by European and national judges alike to set higher standards of protection of women’s human rights while interpreting European and national law. It therefore proposes a threefold analysis of the Council of Europe and the European Union systems, and the domestic level, with a focus on two Italian cases, in order to assess the potential of the Istanbul Convention. It also critically investigates the complex legal issues related to the ratification by the EU of the Istanbul Convention, and how an interpretation of EU law in light of the Istanbul Convention could overcome the political difficulties in the adoption of secondary legislation on combating violence against women. The chapter eventually encourages the dialogue between European and national courts.