Feb 28, 2020 | Advocacy, Cases, Legal submissions
The ICJ has intervened with an expert opinion to support the board members of the Turkish Medial Association in the appeal against their conviction for hate speech offences. The conviction raises significant concerns for freedom of expression.
The case before the Appeal Court concerns 11 defendants, all members of the Council of the Turkish Medical Association: Mehmet Raşit Tükel, Taner Gören, Sinan Adıyaman, Mehmet Sezai Berber, Selma Güngör, Bülent Nazım Yılmaz, Funda Barlık Obuz, Dursun Yaşar Ulutaş, Ayfer Horasan, Şeyhmus Gökalp and Hande Arpat.
On 3 May 2019, the defendants were convicted at first instance by the Ankara 32 Assize Court for having issued statements opposing the war during Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch in Syria.
The Assize Court concluded that the members of the Council publicly provoked hatred or hostility in one section of the public against another section which has a different characteristic based on social class, race, religion, sect or regional difference, in a way that creates an explicit and imminent danger to public security. The Court sentenced each defendant to two terms of 10 months’ imprisonment for provoking the public to hatred and hostility in two separate statements.
Hande Arpat was additionally convicted of “disseminating propaganda in support of a terrorist organization” to 18 months and 22 days in prison concerning her three Facebook posts.
The ICJ expert opinion presented before the Court of Appeal examines international law standards relevant to the criminalization and prosecution of crimes of expression.
Turkey-AssDoctors-ExpertOpinion-2020-ENG (download the expert opinion in English)
Turkey-AssDoctors-ExpertOpinion-2020-TUR (download the expert opinion in Turkish)
Dec 16, 2019 | Agendas, Events, News
Today begins in Ankara (Turkey) a one-day workshop for lawyers and CSO practitioners to discuss and brainstorm on an alternative Justice Reform Strategy.
This event is organized by ICJ, in cooperation with its partners Kapasite Geliştirme Derneği and Human Rights Joint Platform, as part of a EU co-financed project Rebuilding and Ensuring Access to justice with civil society in Turkey.
The workshop aims at discussing the key reforms proposed by the Government of Turkey in its Judicial Reform Strategy and provide with an assessment and an alternative plan for reform based on international standards and jurisprudence on access to justice and the independence of the judiciary.
The workshop will provide presentations on international standards on the judiciary as well as on access to justice for human rights violations. It will produce a ten point strategy document to propose reforms that will uphold the independence of the judiciary and access to justice in Turkey.
The project is funded by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) of the European Union.
Turkey-Workshop-Agenda-AltJRS-Ankara-2019-eng (download the agenda)
Oct 12, 2019 | Agendas, Events
Today begins in Izmir (Turkey) a one-day workshop for lawyers and CSO practitioners on the use and strategies of UN mechanisms and of their decisions in domestic courts.
This event is organized by ICJ, in cooperation with its partners Kapasite Geliştirme Derneği and Human Rights Joint Platform, as part a/the EU co-financed project Rebuilding and Ensuring Access to justice with civil society in Turkey.
30 lawyers and civil society practitioners are taking part in the workshop on 12 October in Izmir.
The workshop aims at discussing the functioning of the UN human rights mechiansms (treaty bodies and charter-based bodies) as well as their follow up procedures and the implementation of their decisions in the domestic legal framework in Turkey.
The workshop will provide presentations on the functioning of UN mechanisms by international expert, including from OHCHR, on the value of UN decisions under Turkish law, as well as discussions and brainstorming on how to use UN decisions in Turkey.
The project is funded by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) of the European Union.
Turkey-Workshop-Agenda-UNmechanisms-Izmir-2019-eng (download the agenda in English)
Turkey-Workshop-Agenda-UNmechanisms-Izmir-2019-tur (download the agenda in Turkish)
Oct 1, 2019 | News
Today, the ICJ published a Turkish translation of Practitioners’ Guide N°2 on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Gross Human Rights Violations.
The translation has been funded by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).
Under its Global Redress and Accountability Initiative, the ICJ had launched its 2018 update to Practitioners’ Guide No 2, outlining the international legal principles governing the right to a remedy and reparation for victims of gross human rights violations and abuses by compiling international jurisprudence on the issues of reparations.
The Guide is aimed at practitioners who may find it useful to have international sources at hand for their legal, advocacy, social or other work.
Amongst revisions to the Guide, the 2018 update includes new sections on terminology and on non-discrimination;updated sections on the notions of ‘collective victims’, ‘collective rights’, the rights of ‘groups of individuals’; additional references to the work of the Committeeon the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child; an updated section on remedies for unlawful detention, including references to the 2015 UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Habeas Corpus; and updates on gender-based violence and on violations occurring in the context of business activities.
The Guide first recalls the States’ general duty to respect, protect, ensure and promote human rights, particularly the general duty of the State and the general consequences flowing from gross human rights violations (Chapter 1).
It then defines who is entitled to reparation: victims are, of course, the first beneficiaries of reparations, but other persons also have a right to reparation under certain circumstances (Chapter 2).
The Guide goes on to address the right to an effective remedy, the right to a prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation and the right to truth (Chapters 3-4).
It then addresses the consequences of gross human rights violations, i.e. the duty of the State to cease the violation if it is ongoing and to guarantee that no further violations will be committed (Chapter 6). It continues by describing the different aspects of the right to reparation, i.e. the right to restitution, compensation, rehabilitation and satisfaction (Chapter 7).
While the duty to prosecute and punish perpetrators of human rights violations is not necessarily part of the reparation as such, it is so closely linked to the victim’s right to redress and justice that it must be addressed in this Guide (Chapter 8).
Frequent factors of impunity, such as trials in military tribunals, amnesties or comparable measures and statutes of limitations for crimes under international law are also discussed (Chapter 9).
The guide in Turkish is available here.
This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the ICJ and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.
Jan 31, 2019 | Multimedia items, News, Video clips
For the past two years the ICJ and its partners Refugee Rights Turkey (RRT), the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and Mülteci-Der (MD) have provided trainings and training materials for Turkish lawyers on international human rights law relating to migration and asylum as part of the project Fostering Access to Rights for Migrants, Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Turkey.
The project has worked to enhance access to justice for migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, through establishing, equipping and supporting a well-informed group of lawyers and civil society organizations in Turkey and link them with their counterparts in EU Member States to defend the rights of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers.
In a public event on the 17 December 2019 hosted in Ankara to mark the conclusion of the project, the ICJ and its partners presented a promotional video describing the work conducted throughout the project.
Watch video here:
(Rough Turkish subtitles available but will be revised at a later stage | Turn the Turkish subtitle by clicking on CC.)
The project “Fostering Access to Rights for Migrants, Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Turkey” is funded by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) of the European Union.
