BeFem Talks "Istanbul Convention: the view of activists from the region" is the introduction to the new campaign "Equality from the drawer: For policies of non-violence!", bringing together again women's rights defenders from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Northern Macedonia, which have been to this day the bravest part of our societies.

The POTPISUJEM.org campaign was part of a large regional project aimed at ratifying and consistently implementing the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (better known as the Istanbul Convention). This is the most important regional agreement that the Council of Europe has made available to member states - on May 11, 2011 in Istanbul, trying to stop or at least reduce violence against women and "end the impunity of perpetrators" with a comprehensive policy.

However, today we are witnesses that it is not enough to fight for certain rights, but it is necessary to apply them, protect them and constantly defend them. An example of this is the long process of ratification of the Istanbul Convention in some countries, including our region, and the most drastic is the recent withdrawal of the signatures of the President of Turkey, which was the first state signatory to the Convention. Why this Convention is important to us, how much it is implemented and respected, were questions for women who have been opening the way and space for decades for the joint efforts to discuss and advocate feminist public policies to combat violence against women.

Watch /See the conversation with the activists from the region.