Women’s organizations that combat male violence against women, feminists and women working in the field of violence against women at municipalities and at the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, came together for the eighteenth time on 14-16 November in Ankara to exchange information and experiences and reinforce women’s solidarity against male violence. This year, the Assembly convened under the main title of “Collective Power of Women Against Male Violence: Solidarity and Areas of Struggle”. A total of 325 women participated in the Assembly, out of whom 41 were from provinces, 60 from women’s organizations and LGBTI organizations and 53 from public agencies and municipalities.
We exchanged information and experience both by means of notifications and workshops. Our topics of discussion included our methods of combatting male violence, how we created areas of struggle and solidarity and how we could expand these areas.
The most important item on the agenda at this year’s Council was again the problems faced in the implementation of the Law no. 6284 on the Protection of Family and the Prevention of Violence Against Women and the inadequacy of Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centres (ŞÖNİMs), which had been established with the promise of preventing male violence against women and providing support and monitoring services for the effective implementation of all measures.
Problems in the implementation of the Law no. 6284 persist, in particular with regard to maintaining the confidentiality of location and identity information, the efforts to combat stalking and the cases of temporary custody. Many women and children face a life-threatening risk because of the flaws observed at agencies such as the Directorate of Population, the Ministry of Education and the Social Security Institution in maintaining the confidentiality of the records kept via the e-state system.
ŞÖNİMs, which were established to provide 24/7 support as of 2012 to women and children in the form of shelters, psycho-social support, legal and health support as well as employment and education support, fail to provide all of these support services. The quality and number of staff at these centres are not adequate to meet the needs of women who want to distance themselves from violence; and the centres are not easily accessible for women. The inadequacy of ŞÖNİMs have turned police stations into almost the only institution to contact for women experiencing violence.
In order to effectively implement the Law no. 6284, there is an urgent need to establish a system that allows public agencies to work effectively and in coordination. The sine qua non of this system are the women’s shelters following feminist principles and methods, 24/7 emergency helplines providing support only to women and widespread and accessible solidarity/counselling centres. CEDAW and the İstanbul Convention obligate the state parties to take all necessary measures to prevent all forms of violence and discrimination against women, including introducing necessary legal regulations.
The Assembly of Europe Task Force to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence of 2008 (EG-TFV (2008) 6), referred to in the Explanatory Report of the İstanbul Convention, specified minimum standards in its final activity report and concluded that a counselling / solidarity centre should be opened for every 50,000 women, adding that there should be adequate number of women’s shelters in every region and a 24/7 helpline should be available nation-wide that provides free support in every language spoken in the country.
Adopting feminist methods at existing and future Women’s Shelters and Solidarity Centres is not a preference but an obligation. The norm should be that these women’s shelters, solidarity/counselling centres and emergency helplines, in other words the achievements of the feminist struggle, should provide non-discriminatory support focusing on women, not the family, and they should empower and free women instead of protecting the family.
We see that women’s shelters in particular under the Ministry of Family and Social Policies have eligibility criteria for admission that exclude LGBTI persons and women with disabilities. Lesbians and bisexuals have to hide their sexual orientation not to be discriminated against when they apply to these centres for admission, therefore the violence they experience on the ground of their sexual orientation and gender identity becomes invisible.
The environment of war and conflict we live in directly impacts women, changing the forms of violence against women. It eliminates social peace; and hate speech is reproduced based on misogyny. Exposing naked bodies of murdered women in various ways and using women’s identities and bodies as a form of humiliation and insult are visible acts of violence against women in times of conflict. In such an environment, it becomes more difficult every day for women and women’s organizations to combat violence.
Women directly or indirectly affected by war and conflicts cannot access mechanisms against domestic violence. In addition to the de facto inaccessibility of these mechanisms, women also feel hesitant because of the distrust they feel towards state institutions. This situation constitutes a barrier for women’s organizations in establishing solidarity with women subjected to male violence. The fact that the law no. 6284 is rendered ineffective in conflict zones is the most relevant example of this. War and conflicts in these zones limit the ability of women’s organizations to develop policies against male violence.
We, the women who came together at the 18th Assembly of Women’s Shelters and Solidarity/Counselling Centres, reiterate the below demands in order to be able to combat male violence, which threatens the living spaces of women and LGBTI organizations:
- In the current system, social services for combatting violence, which are reduced by the state to merely ŞÖNİMs and women’s shelters, fail to fulfil women’s needs. Shortcomings in the social service system should be identified and a widespread, accessible and effective social service network should immediately be established to meet and focus on women’s subjective needs,
- Women’s shelters and first step centres under the Ministry of Family and Social Policies should abandon the practices based on male dominant understanding and the bureaucratic structure, which undermines women and keeps them under control,
- Prevalent and accessible women’s solidarity/counselling centres should be established, where women who want to distance themselves from violence could become empowered by exchanging experiences and receive psychological, social and legal support outside women’s shelters,
- Solidarity centres following feminist principles and methods should be opened and existing and future women’s shelters should work in coordination with these solidarity centres,
- A 24/7 emergency helpline for women should be set up, given that the current Alo 183 Helpline for Family, Women, Children, Persons with Disabilities and Social Service Counselling, which claims to provide services for multiple segments in society, fails to become an effective tool in combatting violence against women,
- The funding earmarked for women’s shelters from the budget should serve not only women staying at women’s shelters under the Ministry but also those staying at municipal women’s shelters. Financial support should not be reduced on the pretext that the support is “exploited”,
- A major barrier to women’s ability to build a life free of violence is that they cannot work at a paid job because they cannot access the support of prevalent and free nurseries. The majority of women still cannot benefit from the nursery support specified in the law no 6284. The number of nurseries for children between the ages of 0-3 and 3-6 should be increased and regulations that consider women’s work hours should be introduced,
- Supervisory support and in-house trainings on violence against women should be provided to all staff working at women’s shelters and ŞÖNİMs. These trainings should also address gender-based discrimination and discrimination against migrants, LGBTI persons and persons with disabilities;
- Most municipalities can only admit applicants to women’s shelters through ŞÖNİMs. Nevertheless, article 11 of the “By-law on Women’s Guesthouses”, which defines how women’s shelters function, regulates the application process at women’s shelters, stipulating that women could contact the Provincial Directorate of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, ŞÖNİMs and other relevant public agencies and institutions or law enforcement agencies to seek admission to shelters. This practice, which has no legal ground, of preventing municipalities from admitting women to shelters through their own counselling centres should be stopped at once.
- Investigations should be launched and effectively conducted into public officials who do not fulfil their duties of combatting violence against women, an obligation imposed by legislation, including in particular the Law no. 6284 and the İstanbul Convention. These public officials should face sanctions specified by relevant legislation,
- All institutions (ŞÖNİMs, police stations, hospitals, the Provincial Directorates of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, solidarity/counselling centres) and women’s shelters, which can be contacted in case of violence, should be accessible to persons with disabilities,
- Persons with disabilities should be able to access information about efforts to combat violence against women. To this end, short text messaging system should be introduced in emergency helplines for persons with hearing disabilities and documents should be available in braille for persons with visual disabilities,
- The idea of having specialized shelters for LGBTIs, persons with disabilities, sex workers, refugees, asylum seekers and migrants and women with mental health disorders who can function in society would lead to discrimination, stigmatization, isolation and disclosure. Instead of specialized shelters, it is necessary to establish mechanisms which provide non-discriminatory support to all women and promote co-existence and solidarity.
- Several provinces no longer hold provincial coordination meetings, which used to be held regularly in previous years with the participation of public agencies responsible for combatting violence against women and women’s organizations working on the field. The lack of provincial coordination meetings leads to obvious shortcomings. For a more effective combat against male violence, it is important to ensure that these meetings are held regularly in every province with the participation of women’s organizations experienced in the field of violence against women,
- As a consequence of the environment of war that we are living in, millions of refugee women cannot meet their basic needs such as health services, food and shelter due to the state’s lack of policy in this regard and its failure to fulfil its international obligations. Refugee women face harassment, rape, forced prostitution, forced labour, early marriage and human trafficking. The State should at once take action to prevent these crimes and fulfil its obligations to meet the basic needs of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees,
- In accordance with article 59 of the İstanbul Convention that regulates the residence status and article 60 that regulates gender-based asylum claims, mechanisms should be established to provide support to migrant women, asylum seeking women and refugee women who experience violence,
- Blockades should be lifted; wars and conflicts should end, peace policies developed with women’s engagement should immediately be placed on the agenda, ensuring a lasting environment of peace,
- The Law no. 2827 on Population Planning, adopted in 1983, states that ten weeks of pregnancies can be terminated on demand. However, in practice the majority of state hospitals do not perform abortions on demand. Restrictive policies that block access to free and safe abortion services are harmful to women’s health and result in the death of women. Therefore, de facto barriers to free and safe abortion services for all women should be removed and legal action should be taken against those who create these barriers,
- Information-giving activities (public service announcements, etc.) should be carried out to inform women and men about birth control methods and healthy and safe sexuality. These activities should emphasize the fact that birth control is not only women’s responsibility, but men have equal responsibility too. Women should have free access to birth control methods,
- Turkey should lift its bans on drugs which are required to perform medical abortion, a safe method of abortion, and which are on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines,
- Measures should be in place in prisons against discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation. Women and LGBT persons serving time in prisons should be informed about their legal rights. Support mechanisms including housing, employment and psycho-social support should be available to them after their release from prison to help them rebuild their lives.
Components of the Assembly of Women’s Shelters and Counselling/Solidarity Centres
- Adana Women’s Solidarity Centre and Shelter Association (AKDAM)
- Adıyaman Life Association (AKAYDER)
- Antalya Women’s Counselling Centre and Solidarity Association
- Aydın Söke Women’s Shelter Association
- Bodrum Women’s Solidarity Association
- Buca Evka-1 Women’s Culture and Solidarity Association (BEKEV)
- Çanakkale Association for Utilizing Women’s Handicraft and Women’s Counselling Centre (ELDER)
- Çiğli Evka-2 Women’s Culture Association (ÇEKEV)
- Diyarbakır Selis Women’s Association
- Diyarbakır Ergani Selis Women’s Association
- Diyarbakır Ceren Women’s Association
- Fethiye Free Women and Life Association
- Gökkuşağı (Rainbow)Women’s Association
- İzmir Women’s Solidarity Association
- Women’s Solidarity Foundation
- Women’s Solidarity Foundation (KADAV)
- Mersin Independent Women’s Association (BKD)
- Mor Çatı Women’s Shelter Foundation
- Mor Salkım Women’s Solidarity Association
- Muş Women’s Association (MUKADDER)
- Muş Women’s Roof Foundation
- Nevşehir Women’s Association
- Şanlıurfa Yaşamevi Women’s Solidarity Association