‘Police Use Outbreak as an Excuse, Don’t Take Complaints of Male Violence Seriously’

"Implement the İstanbul Convention" (Photo: bianet)

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Purple Roof Women's Shelter Foundation has released its "Monitoring Report on Violence Against Women During Coronavirus Outbreak."

The Foundation has shared the following observation in its report:

"We see that the relevant institutions, especially the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services, do not have an emergency action plan to offer solutions to the problems caused by the outbreak and, to top it all, existing mechanisms are not operated by using the outbreak as an excuse."

'No information can be obtained from institutions'

Some highlights from the report are as follows:

* Neither law enforcement agencies, nor the Centers for Preventing and Monitoring Violence (ŞÖNİM) guide women about a place to stay.

* We see that not only has the Ministry failed to unveil a comprehensive emergency action plan to fight violence against women, but it is also violating the laws and regulations of the state as a public institution.

* The very limited information has shown us that the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services does not conduct its works in a transparent manner and it does not have an emergency action plan.

* We could not even get in touch with the Governor's Office of İstanbul. When we got in contact with the ŞÖNİM, we received similar answers to the ones given by the Ministry. They have told us that they only accept women facing a life threatening situation into the shelters and do not accept the ones who apply for accommodation.

'Women misinformed by the law enforcement'

* We have also observed that when women appeal to law enforcement agencies for shelter requests, they are misinformed and subjected to deterrent and ill treatment by using the outbreak as an excuse.

* We have also learnt that the restraining orders that need to be issued by these units are not issued. This action is not foreseen by the regulation, either. As for the measures taken against coronavirus, we could not reach information about it. While there are officials who said that coronavirus tests are conducted, there are also the ones who indicated that it is not possible to do it for every woman. When we called the Governor's Office of İstanbul to get information about the issue, it was again not possible to reach them.

'Women not even taken to hospital for examination'

* Before the outbreak, police officers would send women back home, saying "We cannot do anything about it." And, now, we have learnt that they are not even taken to a hospital for physical examination, they are not informed about their rights or they are subjected to deterrent statements to persuade them to go back home. We see that the practices of the police, which were already bad, have come to a deadlock and further deteriorated at the pretext of virus. To cast them off, police utter remarks such as "There is virus, 15 people come every day, keep off, we don't know who is what."

* And, to top it all, the officers tell women to "withdraw their complaints, to go their home or to a friend's house" or they say "shelters are closed, shelters are much worse." According to the information obtained in this process, they also misinform women about the Law 6284 on the Protection of Family and Prevention of Violence Against Women, saying that "it is enforced by the governor's office, they need to go there."

'Women sent from one institution to another'

* We witness that women are taken from one police station to another despite the outbreak. Women's filing a complaint or taking action against violence is a difficult process in itself. And, what is worse, we have learnt that amid this outbreak threat, they send women from one institution to another and turned them down without offering any solutions or creating any alternatives and by neglecting their duties.

* The GREVIO Assessment Report on Turkey has shown the need for this line and documented that ALO 183 Social Support Line does not work properly. During the outbreak, we have once again seen the necessity of meeting these requests of ours. That is, we have seen that ALO 183 cannot be reached due to high demand and the system has come to a deadlock as requests for economic support have grown. Some women even told us that they were recommended to appeal to the Purple Roof Women's Shelter Foundation by ALO 183 Line. The fact that they recommend women to appeal to a women's organization rather than public institution shows the desperation of the ones working in a collapsed system.

Concluding the report, the Foundation has also made a series of recommendations to the governor's and sub-governor's offices as well as district and metropolitan municipalities about how to take more efficient action against male violence to help and guide women more effectively. (EMK/SD)

* Click here for the full report (in Turkish)