The prospects for ratification of the Istanbul Convention – the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence – remain very low, says head of the Servant of the People Party, MP Oleksandr Kornienko.
"We understand that the church is an institution enjoying high confidence, including among deputies. The prospects for adopting the Istanbul Convention in its current form are very low. But we have obligations, and we need to move through mediation," Kornienko said, according to LB.ua.
It is noted that the Council of Churches has repeatedly expressed concern about possible ratification of said convention as its members claim the document allegedly imposes gender ideology, which replaces the "familiar concept of biological gender."
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Clergymen believe this is a path to popularizing same-sex relations, which they oppose.
Ukraine signed this convention in 2011, but the country's Parliament is yet to ratify it.
In 2016, ratification failed over the debate on the concepts of gender and sexual orientation.
The EU and the Council of Europe have already called for legislators in Ukraine to ratify the document.