Young people in Gagauzia learned the truth about the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention) and their perception of this convention has improved following a seminar held for them at the Theoretical Lyceum “D. Caraciobanu” in Comrat on Tuesday, Elena Savina, director of the National Institute for Women of Moldova “Equality”, which organized the event, stated for IPN .

“In October 2021, Moldova ratified the Istanbul Convention and society immediately experienced mass disinformation about this convention. Many of the media outlets disinform the public, saying the Istanbul Convention legalizes the taking away of children from parents. And many believe this as they are not familiar with the provisions of this document. The convention was adopted recently and seminars should be therefore held to inform youth leaders about the convention,” stated Elena Savina.

The seminar was also aimed at promoting intolerance of violence among the young representatives of ethnic minorities in the Republic of Moldova.

According to Elena Savina, the relevance of educating the young people in the spirit of intolerance of violence is illustrated by the existing stereotypes. This way, according to one of the polls, 27.7% of the men and 17.5% of the women embrace the idea that a woman should endure violence in order to save her family. Also, 41.1% of the men and 19.1% of the women agreed that there are moments when the woman deserves to be beaten. The existence of such stereotypes points to the necessity of actively developing intolerance of violence in the Republic of Moldova from an early age.

In the practical part of the seminar, the participants noted that in society there are many stereotypes like “beating means loving”, “we were also beaten, but forgave and the family was saved and the children were raised”, which hamper the efficient combating of violence.

At the end of the seminar, the participants appreciated a lot the informal atmosphere of the event, the assimilation of new and useful information. They thanked the organizers and the donor, noting the great practical value of the discussion.

The seminar was staged by the National Institute for Women of Moldova “Equality” in the framework of a project to fight violence against women that is financed with a grant of the Institute of War and Peace Studies and with support from the UK Government.