It is with great sadness for women and girls that Turkey yesterday has chosen to abandon one of Europe's most important legal instruments to tackle men’s violence against women and girls, The Istanbul Convention. We have close contact with the women's shelters in Turkey, which of course are also deprived of the decisions that Turkey has now taken.

The Istanbul Convention has clarified the structural violence that women and girls are disproportionately exposed to every day. The convention has also emphasizes the importance of working against men's violence against women and girls.

There is great opposition to the work against men's violence against women around Europe, even here in Sweden. For this resistance, a convention such as the Istanbul Convention poses a major problem because it calls for an end to violence against women and girls.

Roks therefore invites all women's shelters in Turkey for closer cooperation where we can use our strengths to fight together against the opposition you now face. Roks also invites the women´s shelters all around Europe for clearer cooperation to stop men's violence against women which also includes the opposition to the Istanbul Convention as the women shelter movement around Europe has worked many decades to establish. 

The board of Roks