The Council of Europe said Sunday it is alarmed that Polands right-wing government is moving to withdraw from a landmark international treaty combating violence against women.

Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said on the weekend that on Monday he will begin preparing the formal process to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, the worlds first binding instrument to prevent and combat violence against women, from marital rape to female genital mutilation.

A previous centrist Polish government signed the treaty in 2012 and it was ratified in 2015, when Ziobro called it an invention, a feminist creation aimed at justifying gay ideology.

The treaty was spearheaded by the Council of Europe, the continents oldest human rights organisation, and its Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric condemned the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) governments plan to withdraw.

Leaving the Istanbul Convention would be highly regrettable and a major step backwards in the protection of women against violence in Europe, she said in a statement on Sunday.

If there are any misconceptions or misunderstandings about the convention, we are ready to clarify them in a constructive dialogue.

Around two thousand people marched in the Polish capital Warsaw on Friday to protest the governments withdrawal plan, some shouting stop violence against women.

There was also outrage from several members of the European Parliament, with Iratxe Garcia Perez, the Spanish leader of the Socialist group, calling the decision disgraceful.

I stand with Polish citizens taking (to) the streets to demand respect for womens rights, he tweeted.

The leader of the EU parliaments Renew Europe group, former Romanian prime minister Dacian Ciolos, tweeted: Using the fight against the Istanbul Convention as an instrument to display its conservatism is a new pitiful and pathetic move by some within the PiS government.

Fellow MEP and former Belgian premier Guy Verhofstadt said the decision was scandalous, adding that violence is not a traditional value.

The Council of Europe emphasised that the Istanbul Conventions sole objective is to combat violence against women and domestic violence.

The treaty does not explicitly mention gay marriage.

But that has not stopped the backlash to it in Hungary and Slovakia, where the parliament rejected the treaty insisting without proof that it is at odds with the countrys constitutional definition of marriage as a heterosexual union.

The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, which is separate from the European Union, has no binding powers but brings together 47 member states to make recommendations on rights and democracy.

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'Alarm' at Poland's plan to leave treaty protecting women - Macau Business