Akin Gump Partners with The Advocates for Human Rights to Compile “A Rollback for Human Rights” Report on Istanbul Convention

(Washington, D.C.) – Akin Gump is proud to have assisted, pro bono, The Advocates for Human Rights, a U.S-based organization focused on implementing human rights standards to promote civil society and reinforce the rule of law, in the research and preparation of its report A Rollback for Human Rights: The Istanbul Convention Under Attack, published December 2.

Per The Advocates, the report documents “the alarming opposition to the Istanbul Convention, formally known as the Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence” and “how organized opposition has negatively influenced the debate over ratification and undermined women’s human rights.”

Commenting on the report, Akin Gump pro bono partner Steven Schulman stated, “Given the vital work The Advocates is doing, we could not be more honored to support its work by contributing to this report and highlighting the human rights backlash, particularly opposition to the Istanbul Convention, witnessed in countries across Europe and Asia.”

The report is based primarily on research on Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

More than 40 Akin Gump lawyers and staff in offices in the U.S., U.K., Europe and the U.A.E. dedicated thousands of pro bono hours to the report since September 2019. Members of the team also traveled to an affected country to conduct in-person interviews.

Akin Gump’s efforts were led by Mr. Schulman, associate Sahar Abas and then-counsel Nicholas Antonas.

To read the full report, click here.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

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