New Year present by Amnesty International: İstanbul Convention

Click to read the article in Turkish

To mark the New Year, Amnesty International Turkey has sent a copy of the İstanbul Convention to several state institutions, officials and NGOs.

Making efforts to ensure that "Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence" or İstanbul Convention is fully implemeted in Turkey, Amnesty International has prepared a booklet of the convention and sent it as a gift to 671 institutions and persons, attaching a postcard to the booklet as well. 

Amid the ongoing debates on Turkey's possible withdrawal from the convention, the organization has sent the booklet to state institutions such as the Presidency, Presidential Communications Directorate, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services among many others.

CLICK - İstanbul Convention: What is it? What is it not?

The book has also been sent to Constitutional Court, Radio and Television Supreme Council, Directorate General of Migration Management as well as to unions such as the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) and Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-İŞ).

Click here for the booklet (in Turkish)

It is sent to Metropolitan Municipalities as well

After a preface titled "What is İstanbul Convention and Why is it important?," the booklet then moves on to share the convention in 12 chapters and addendums.

In its postcard, Amnesty International has said, "We wish that 2021 will be a year when everyone has human rights, human rights are embraced, implemented and protected by everyone."

The postcard and the convention have also been posted to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), during whose term in office the convention was rectified and which has itself opened the convention to debate over the past years.

In addition to the AKP, the postcard and the İstanbul Convention have also been sent to the central offices of the main opposition CHP, DEVA Party, Future Party, HDP, İYİ Party, SP and TİP, to 30 Metropolitan Municipalities and several NGOs across the country.

'May Turkey set a precedent for enforcing it'

Ece Ünver, the Turkey Director of Amnesty International, has also commented on the new year gift of the organization. Referring to the COVID-19 measures, Ünver has noted that "2020 was a year when several women and girls were confined in the same house with their perpetrators or when they could not access protection and support services easily."

Indicating that "the news about violence against women and girls increased in this period," she has raised concerns that "even opening İstanbul Convention to debate in a period like this had a grave impact on the safety of women and girls." She has called on all authorities in Turkey "to be a state that sets a precedent in implementing the life-saving content of the convention." (EMK/SD)