Most experts and non-governmental organizations working on violence prevention issues oppose the plan to withdraw from the convention, expressing concerns that it will weaken the protection of victims against violence and negatively affect Latvia's international image in the eyes of Western allies.

Rinkēvičs has not publicly formulated his position on the law so far, but has promised to"carefully evaluate" the law adopted by the Saeima on withdrawal from the convention,"taking into account state and legal, not ideological or political, considerations."

Following the Saeima majority's decision, the international human rights organization Amnesty International has also released a statement. The organization's senior specialist on women's rights, Monika Kosta Riba, assesses that"Latvia's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention would be a devastating blow to the protection and rights of women and girls in the country, as well as all people facing domestic violence, which sends a dangerous message to abusers that they can exploit and kill women and girls with impunity."

Meanwhile, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Theodors Roussopoulos, announced on Friday that the decision of the Latvian Parliament is a dangerous signal.

It is also reported that more than 60,000 people have signed an initiative for the President of Latvia on the"ManaBalss.lv" platform in just over three days, calling on him not to promulgate a law on Latvia's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.

In Latvia, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, or the so-called Istanbul Convention, entered into force on 1 May last year. It is an international treaty that requires its member states to develop a coordinated policy to better protect women from all forms of violence, as well as women and men from domestic violence. Among other things, member states must provide victims with comprehensive assistance and protection, crisis centres, a 24-hour crisis hotline, specialised support centres for victims of sexual violence, and protect and support children who are witnesses of violence.