The EU and the Council of Europe have voiced regret and alarm over Poland's move to withdraw from a landmark international treaty combating violence against women.
Around 2,000 people marched in the Polish capital Warsaw last Friday to protest against the plan. Some dressed as characters from the Handmaid's Tale, others shouted "stop violence against women".
Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said he will begin preparing the formal process to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention tomorrow.
The treaty is the world's first binding instrument to prevent and combat violence against women, from marital rape to female genital mutilation.
Mr Ziobro has in the past dismissed it as "an invention, a feminist creation aimed at justifying gay ideology".
The Council of Europe said it was "alarmed" that Poland's right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government was planning to withdraw from the treaty.
Its Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric condemned the PiS government's 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.
"If there are any misconceptions or misunderstandings about the convention, we are ready to clarify them in a constructive dialogue."
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, told AFP in Brussels that it "regrets that such an important matter has been distorted by misleading arguments in some member states".
The EC said it would "continue its efforts to finalise the EU's accession" of the convention, which was signed in 2017 but has not yet been ratified.
Fine Gael MEP Frances Fitzgerald said it was now essential for the whole of the EU to ratify the convention "so that no woman is left unprotected and vulnerable to violence".
