24/10/2024 | Writer: Kaos GL
Human Rights Watch: ‘Many activists working on women's rights and LGBTI+ rights in Turkey see the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention as a major setback.’
Photo: Dilara Açıkgöz / csgorselarsiv.org
Human Rights Watch (HRW) submitted a report on Turkey to the Human Rights Committee. The report aims to contribute to the upcoming review of Turkey's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The report recalls that Turkey was the first country to ratify and withdraw from the Istanbul Convention. The report points out that the reason for Turkey's withdrawal from the Convention was its approach to gender identity and sexual orientation:
“Türkiye was the first country to ratify the Istanbul Convention, which opened for signature on May 11, 2011, in Istanbul and, on March 20, 2021, the first country to withdraw from it. The Turkish government’s spurious justification for leaving cited the convention’s inclusive approach to sexual orientation and gender identity as evidence that the convention had been – in the words of the president’s communications chief - “hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality – which is incompatible with Turkey’s social and family values.” Many lawyers and activists working on women’s rights and LGBT rights in Türkiye view withdrawal from the convention as a major setback, demonstrating lack of political commitment to gender equality, without which there remain huge obstacles to combatting domestic violence and violence against women in Türkiye and addressing its root causes.”
Click here for the full report.
Tags: human rights, women
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