The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) will enter into force on 1 August 2015 in Finland.

The Istanbul Convention is the first European human rights convention on women. The purposes of the Convention are to prevent and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence, provide protection of all victims of such violence, and prosecute the perpetrators of violence. The Convention also aims to contribute to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and and promote substantive equality between women and men.

The Istanbul Convention examines violence against women and domestic violence from the viewpoint of human rights.