On Thursday, September 18, 2025, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights, a half-day event titled “The Converging Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Istanbul Convention: A Scientific Dialogue Between the European Court of Human Rights and GREVIO” was successfully held at the Council of Europe.

The Conference was co-organised by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), in collaboration with the University of Oxford Faculty of Law and the Open Council of Europe Academic Network (OCEAN). This was the first time such a joint conference had been held, as part of the Court’s broader policy to strengthen synergies with the other human rights protection bodies of the Council of Europe.

The three thematic panels, composed of judges of the ECtHR, members of GREVIO, and distinguished academics, focused on critical aspects of gender-based violence. Discussions addressed both the obstacles and the progress made regarding women’s access to justice, ways to enhance the protection of victims and prevent further harm through targeted measures and procedural safeguards, as well as the need to tackle gender stereotypes in child custody cases, where there is a history of domestic violence.

The conference was opened by the President of the ECtHR, Mattias Guyomar, and the President of GREVIO, Maria-Andriani Kostopoulou. Highlighting the interaction between the two conventions as a living dialogue between legal principles and practice, Maria-Andriani Kostopoulou emphasised:

“Where GREVIO evaluates the living reality of States’ implementation of the Istanbul Convention, the Court ensures that when rights are denied in practice, there is judicial redress. One acts preventively, the other remedially; one guides and advises, the other adjudicates and enforces. Together, they weave what the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur might have called a “narrative of justice” – an evolving dialogue between principle and practice, law and life”.

The full speech of the President of GREVIO and Member of the Governing Board of the MFHR is available here.

The MFHR welcomes the event and highlights the importance of such initiatives, which encourage reflection on recent developments, promote the exchange of good practices, and support a more coherent and impactful implementation of European human rights standards to address gender-based violence.