Parties to Istanbul convention must 'prevent violence, protect its victims, prosecute perpetrators' Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski on Monday ratified a landmark European convention combatting violence against women, despite opposition from the country's powerful Catholic Church and his right-wing rival in the May presidential elections. Parties to the Istanbul convention have an obligation to "prevent violence, protect its victims, prosecute the perpetrators" and to provide adequate shelter to domestic violence victims. Over a dozen countries from across Europe have ratified th