Human Rights Day | ‘We see, we don’t stay silent, we struggle’

* Photo: Engin Akyurt / Pixabay

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"In the 73rd year of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), we are defending our economic and social rights in the face of economic crisis, our right to life in COVID-19 pandemic conditions and our right to peace against war."

The Human Rights Association (İHD) and Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV-HRFT) held a joint press conference on the occasion of December 10-17 Human Rights Week yesterday (December 9).

Held a day before Human Rights Day today, the conference of "Human Rights Landscape and Rights Violations in Turkey in 2021" was marked by the increasing pressures aggravated by the pandemic:

"Turkey is going through one of the gravest economic crises of the last 40 years. The impoverisment, precarity and disorganization caused by the indebtment-based neoliberal economic policies that have been in effect for years have been aggravated further by the state of emergency practices. This picture has taken on a graver look with the COVID-19 outbreak.

The economic crisis, which has been in place in its most visible form since 2018, has become insurmountable with the onset of the pandemic. High costs of living, unemployment and poverty have affected women, children, migrants and refugees the most.

ECtHR, Council of Europe, UN

The İHD and TİHV-HRFT also shared their observations about how the political situation in Turkey has affected the law and legal sphere:

"The repressive policies of the political power holders have led to some firsts to happen in 2021 in terms of violations of rights.

The withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention, one of the most fundamental human rights conventions of the Council of Europe, the initiation of the infringement proceedings against Turkey by the decision of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on December 2, 2021 on the grounds of the failure to implement the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings on Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş and the greylisting of Turkey, which does not fulfill its obligations in the fight against illicit money and corruption, by the United Nations (UN) actually show the extent to which human rights violations have increased in Turkey.

'Establishing justice, peace and democracy'

Against this background, both rights organizations expressed their determination to struggle against this grave picture:

"As the ones whose raison d'etre is to achieve a country and world where violations of rights end and justice, peace and democracy are established, we will keep making violations of rights visible by documenting and reporting them despite all hardships, as we did in the past, thereby preventing these violations; we will keep struggling against impunity and fostering respect for human rights. We see, we don't stay silent, we struggle."

Armored vehicle crashes took 6 lives

The TİHV-HRFT and İHD also shared the following information about the violations of rights life in Turkey:

"According to the data of the İHD and the TİHV-HRFT Documentation Unit/Center, in the first 11 months of 2021;

• Nine people lost their lives and 23 people were wounded as a result of the law enforcement officers' extrajudicial killings, on the grounds of the failure to abide by 'stop' warnings or by random shootings.
• As a result of armed conflicts, at least 36 security personnel (30 soldiers, 1 police officer, 5 village guards), 80 organization members, 3 civilians (119 people in total) lost their lives. In this period, at least 37 security personnel (31 soldiers, 4 police officers, 2 village guards) were wounded.
• Outside Turkey, at least 68 security personnel (63 soldiers, 2 police officers, 3 village guards) lost their lives and 31 security personnel (29 soldiers, 2 police officers) were wounded.
• As a result of crashes involving the vehicles of security forces or official institutions, 6 people, including 4 children, lost their lives; 15 people, including 6 children, were injured.
• In explosions of mines, unclaimed bombs or the like, 4 people, including 2 children, lost their lives and 5 people, including 1 child, were wounded.
• According to the İHD data, in prisons, at least 22 people lost their lives on various grounds such as illnesses, suicide, violence, negligence, etc.
• In racist and hate attacks, 9 people lost their lives and 29 people, including 10 refugees/ foreign nationals, were injured.
• At least 13 people lost their lives in accidents, explosions and/or in a suspicious manner while they were doing their mandatory military service or when they were on active military duty.
• According to the data of the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG), at least 1,853 workers lost their lives in occupational homicides in Turkey in the first 10 months of 2021.
• According to official figures, in the first 11 months of 2021, 55 thousand 961 people lost their lives due to the pandemic. The number of people who have lost their lives since the outbreak of the pandemic is 76 thousand 842. In the first 11 months of 2021, 180 healthcare workers lost their lives due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
• In 2021, Turkey continued with its military operations within the borders of Syria, Libya and Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). As far as it can be documented, during these operations, 50 security personnel (49 soldiers, 1 village guard), 4 civilians and 177 militants (231 people in total) lost their lives and 15 soldiers were wounded in conflicts within the borders of the KRG.
• As a result of the conflicts in Syria, 16 people in total (14 soldiers, 2 police officers) lost their lives and 14 people in total (12 soldiers, 2 police officers) were injured.

(AS/SD)