Germany formally ratified [COE report] on Thursday the Council of Europe convention on preventing and comabting violence against women and domestic violence [text, PDF].

The so-called “Istanbul Convention” criminalizes violence against women in all its forms. The 81 Articles in the Convention provide substantive law as well as guidance for investigation, enforcement, migration, and international co-operation, among other concerns. The Convention is one step in achieving equality among men and women:

Recognising, with grave concern, that women and girls are often exposed to serious forms of violence such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape, forced marriage, crimes committed in the name of so‐called “honour” and genital mutilation, which constitute a serious violation of the human rights of women and girls and a major obstacle to the achievement of equality between women and men.

The ratification was accompanied by reservations [text] pertaining to the limitations on the ability to enforce Convention obligations for “offences committed abroad by foreigners or stateless persons who have their habitual residence in Germany” under current German law.

German Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth Elke Ferner [official profile, in German] formally announced the ratification, which made Germany the 25th state [COE materials] to embrace the Convention.