There is an increasing global anti-rights movement—the child of marriage of the right-wing populist and anti-gender movements—that affects the rights of not only women and LGBTQIs but also refugees, asylum seekers, and various minorities. Although this research only focuses on the event of Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, it provides valuable perspective to understand and prevent the further spread of anti-gender and right-wing populist tactics and rhetoric. Despite the limitations, by offering and adapting various concepts such as political diffusion, absence in the media, and exiting treaties, the research revealed meaningful connections and insight while attempting to identify the possible effects of the event. While the influence and role of the Polish and Hungarian governments and other opposition actors on the right-wing populist and anti-gender movements between 2021 and March 2023 are exposed, the possible impacts of encouragement and an increase in anti-rights tendencies are presented. In this way, this research contributes to the literature by offering a current assessment and developments regarding the anti-rights movement in Eastern Europe while filling the gap within by considering the approach of political diffusion and the withdrawal's resonance in the movement.

Since mid-1990s a transnational, global anti-gender movement has sought to undermine women’s and LGBT-people’s rights around the world, and at present, trans people are regarded as the movement’s prime targets. Taking a constructivist approach, this bachelor thesis examines through discourse analysis the opposition to a law on trans rights in the Finnish Parliament, voted on at the beginning of the year 2023. In doing this, the bachelor thesis adds to the literature on norm contestation in International Relations, especially when it comes to LGBT-rights, while contributing to the still limited research on the anti-gender movement in the Northern European countries. Recognizing norm spoiling attempts in the opposition to trans rights, the thesis argues this opposition in Finland can be understood as part of the global anti-gender movement.