Access to Justice for Women in the Kurdish Regions

We would like to give you some news on how the project has progressed in November and December thanks to your generous support.

 In November, KHRP Legal Associate Saniye Karakaş led a roundtable meeting in Van, Turkey. The meeting was hosted by KHRP partner VAKAD (Van Kadin Dernegi) and brought together 15 male and female human right defenders and representatives of civil society groups working on women’s rights in Turkey and other Kurdish regions to discuss key issues and sharing tactics. “An important topic of discussion that emerged was the issue of women refugees, which is a problem across the Kurdish regions.

 We were delighted that one of the outcomes of this meeting is an inter-NGO/CSO exchange programme where NGOs from across the Kurdish regions, not just in Turkey, will do 1 month exchanges of staff to develop their skill sets and further develop relationships across borders to help combat and prevent abuses of human rights and develop tactics to promote and protect women’s rights.

 In December the project took the issue of justice for women in the Kurdish regions to the European Parliament in a seminar delivered to MEPs and representatives of the European Commission. The discussion focused on how women throughout the Kurdish regions are disproportionately affected by crimes against their person and their property, and continue to face a range of barriers to accessing legal remedies that are theoretically available to them. Issues addressed included language barriers, a lack of awareness amongst women of their rights, severe failings in the provision of legal aid and medical examinations, and the routine failure of officials to take complaints by women seriously and to implement legislation intended to afford them protection. The seminar sought to provide recommendations on how state authorities, such as the police, legislators, prosecutors or judges, can increase their protection of women victims of discrimination and violence, and to consider potential action points for the European Union to take.

 As the year comes to a close, we would like to thank all of you who have supported this vital work and helped to raise an amazing £4,164 / $6,745 to enable more and more women to access their rights.