41 women driven to suicide in Turkey in a year

* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)

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The Human Rights Association (İHD) Women's Commission shared the findings of its "2020 Women's Rights Report" in a press conference at the İHD Central Office in Ankara today (March 18).

While the conference was also attended by İHD Co-Chair Eren Keskin, İHD's Secretary for Women's Affairs Nuray Çevirmen said that gender inequality, which was already high in the country, has deepened further with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Details from the report

The report of the association has found that women with disabilities have been disregarded during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Women have difficulties in accessing fundamental rights and disadvantages especially in the fields of healthcare and education have grown.

The association has underlined that while the number of women's shelters was already not sufficient, women are mostly prevented from accessing shelters and Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centers (ŞÖNİM).

"In addition, even though it is legal, when women wanted to have an abortion at public hospitals, they had difficulties in accessing the right to abortion with arbitrary and groundless allegations," the report has said.

Accordingly, in 2020, at least 709 women, both citizens and non-citizens of Turkey, were forced to do sex work.

At least 1,075 women were subjected to economic, physical, psychological, sexual violence, harassment or threat; at least 41 women were driven to suicide; at least 178 women were suspiciously found dead.

The İHD has stressed that "the figures indicated in the report are, in fact, much higher," raising concerns that "the Law no. 6284 on the Protection of Family and Prevention of Violence Against Women and were most of the time not implemented, there were attempts to cancel the İstanbul Convention and the Parliamentary questions were rejected by the government."

Requests

Listing its findings as to the women's rights in Turkey in 2020, the İHD report has also made a series of recommendations.

The association has underlined that gender equality must be ensured immediately, adding that the provisions of the Law no. 6284 and the İstanbul Convention must also be effectively enforced.

Noting that women should be economically and socially empowered during the pandemic and the ones who have no income in this period must be provided with financial support, the association has also underlined that professional people and organizations must be available 7/24 so that women who are subjected to violence can access them.

At this point, the association has emphasized the importance of making the emergency hotlines available for women in several languages, such as Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and English.

The security of refugee and asylum seeking women must be ensured and works should be undertaken to empower them, the İHD has noted.

The association has also underlined that women's shelters must be accessible and comply with international standards and women over the age of 60 should also be admitted to women's shelters.

Referring to women's lives after leaving the shelters, the İHD has noted that the economic and social aids in this process must be functional. 

"Law enforcement must face sanctions in the event that they arbitrarily give deterrent and false information," the association has noted. (EMK/SD)