Concluding Declaration of the 21st Assembly of Women’s Shelters and Solidarity Centres

This year, the 21^st Assembly of Women’s Shelters and Solidarity Centres brought together women’s organizations and LGBTI organizations that combat male violence against women, feminists, women working in anti-violence services at municipalities and the agencies under the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services. The Assembly was hosted by Bodrum Women’s Solidarity Association on 3-4-5 November under the main heading of “How are the Efforts to Combat Male Violence Against Women Incorporated in the New State Policies?”. A total of 205 women from 28 provinces attended the Assembly, including participants from women’s organizations, LGBTI+ organizations, public institutions and municipalities.

We, women’s organizations combatting male violence against women, are closely following the legal and structural changes the State has made, and trying to make, vis-à-vis male violence against women as well as the problems and adverse impacts of relevant practices. Particularly after the publication of the report by the divorce committee in 2016, we see that the “new” state policies are quite clearly attempting to adopt laws and practices that are not in favour of women in most areas ranging from women’s right to divorce, sexual violence to the alimony and the tools of combating violence against women.

In addition to their need of emergency housing and protection from violence, women who apply to shelters for admission face the biggest challenge in empowering themselves economically. The main barriers to women’s economic empowerment are inadequate social assistance, the difficulties faced in accessing social assistance, in particular the inconsistency in lease support or the lack thereof and the lack of free and accessible nurseries which match working hours and support the participation of women with children in working life. The age limit of boys has not been regulated yet in the by-law. Consequently, most women who have sons at or over 12 years of age are coerced into putting up with the violence they experience because they do not want to leave their child in an abusive home or in a social service institution. The effort devoted to preventing women from getting a divorce or receiving alimony is not put into empowering women as they build a life free from violence.

The Presidency of Religious Affairs is conducting “supplementary” work for the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services with a focus on the integrity of the family, not on the empowerment of women in the case of violence related separations. There exist many problems including the shortage of staff at women’s shelters and solidarity centres which are vital institutions for enabling women to build a life free from violence as well as the inadequacy of physical conditions in working environments, the lack of structural standardization and the scarcity of these institutions. Nonetheless, the budget we demand to be allocated for resolving these problems is used each time, under the pretext of social assistance, for coercing women into staying at home within the family to provide care work to older persons, the sick and the children.

7 women’s organizations, components of the Assembly, were closed down and their facilities were ceased by the Decrees issued during the State of Emergency declared in 2016. Private documents of these organizations, including even the notes from the interviews with women, were confiscated. Trustees were appointed to many municipalities. Women’s solidarity centres and shelters providing service to women and children were closed and replaced with marriage bureaus, embroidery classes, beauty parlours or Quran courses. Most of the women’s solidarity centres and shelters of the municipalities were closed but there is still no action to open new ones to replace the closed centres and shelters.

We see the consequences in everyday life of the interferences in the sexual inviolability of women and children that continue by way of legal amendments, particularly since the 2014 amendment to the TPC. With respect to the discussions on increasing the severity of sentences for sexual assault and child abuse, we reiterate that the prevention of these crimes are more results oriented, more essential and have more priority than harsher punishments.

Recently, we have been observing many violations and wrong practices regarding the law no. 6284. Women are pushed into reconciling with men in cases of male violence against women although this is against the İstanbul Convention. When migrant/refugee women, women with disabilities and women who experience multiple discrimination seek assistance against violence, they face illegal practices including having their gender identity and orientation questioned, facing discrimination on the ground of nationality, disability and migrant/refugee status, being asked to present a report/documentation of the violence they experience or being denied their request to be admitted to a shelter. We do not accept these “secondary” barriers, which are discriminatory in the implementation of the laws and are faced by women who want to be free of violence.

The report by GREVIO-Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence-was published on 15 October 2018 but the ministry has still not published its Turkish version although it has been more than a month since the publication. The report should be translated into Turkish and made public as soon as possible so that the recommendations for Turkey vis-à-vis the İstanbul Convention can be considered by the public opinion.

We, the women, women organizations and LGBTI+ organizations that have come together at the 21^st Assembly of Women’s Shelters and Solidarity/Counselling Centres, declare once more that we will not back down on our struggle against male violence that threatens our living space, nor will we give up on the rights we have fought for, nor will we accept any restriction on or intervention in our existing rights.

We hereby share with the public our demands to effectively ensure the continuity of our efforts to combat male violence against women:

1. State officials, spokespersons of the government and the opposition should stop using a sexist language that reproduces and reinforces male violence and the inequality between women and men.
2. Both the ministry and local governments should increase their budgets earmarked for women’s solidarity/counselling centres and shelters, key tools for women’s efforts to combat violence. The earmarked budget should be managed transparently and the opinion of independent women’s organizations should be obtained at the budget planning stage to make the current budget sensitive to gender equality.
3. Anonymized and detailed data about violence against women and sexual offenses should be maintained, made public periodically and be statistically accessible.
4. Current legal regulations on alimony should be protected. Analyses should be carried out about the problems facing women with respect to alimony; and women’s grievances should be compensated.
5. The State should fulfil its international obligations and maintain detailed and anonymized data about alimony, report the data and periodically share it with the public. The data should be statistically accessible.
6. In line with its responsibility arising from the İstanbul Convention, the State should promptly have the GREVIO report translated into Turkish accurately and faithfully to the original text and make it publicly available.
7. In order to act on the recommendations made in the GREVIO report, an action plan should be drafted with the engagement of independent women’s organizations and the existing action plan should be revised in line with the recommendations in the report.
8. Turkey should nominate a candidate for membership to GREVIO Committee in accordance with the recommendation of women’s organizations.
9. Labour law litigation, which covers violence against women including psychological violence, should be excluded from the scope of mandatory mediation.
10. Article 253 of the Code of Criminal Procedure should be amended and casefiles about violence against women should be left out of the scope of conciliation process.
11. Given that current practices cause severe rights violations, conciliators and mediators should be given regular trainings on violence against women, women’s rights, gender equality and gender issues. Police officers, imams, preachers and courthouse staff should be dismissed from conciliation duties.
12. Public service announcements should be broadcast to raise public awareness about the law no. 6284, which is vital for women’s protection and liberation from violence. Information about the law should be included in the education curriculum and in-house and vocational trainings. In order to ensure that women can benefit from the law, the public should be informed that the law applies to all women including migrant/refugee women living in Turkey; and activities should be carried out to overcome the lack of knowledge of law enforcement officers and those providing support.
13. It should be mandatory for bar association trainings on internships, judicial aid and the Code of Criminal Procedure to include the law no. 6284, the İstanbul Convention, CEDAW and gender issues. A quota should be set for the number of cases the judicial personnel can work on and they should receive necessary trainings and supervision.
14. The shortened periods of measures taken under the law no. 6284 has rendered the protection mechanisms ineffective; therefore, this practice should be abandoned and effective protection orders should be issued, which last for an appropriate length of time in line with women’s needs.
15. Trainings on the prevention of sexual violence should be provided to members of professions such as public officials, health sector and law enforcement.
16. Child monitoring centres and judicial interview rooms should be set up in every province and district. The Ministry of Justice should send out a circular to relevant judges and prosecutors with a view to ensuring that legal requirements are satisfied during the interview when the statements of neglected children are taken (a psychologist should accompany the child and a visual audio-visual recording should be made during the interview). Turkish Chamber of Doctors should be consulted about the content and management of examination reports.
17. Children’s rooms should be opened in every solidarity/counselling centre and shelter and every neighbourhood should have temporary children’s rooms.
18. Standardization should be introduced to ŞÖNİMs to avoid differences in physical conditions, the quality of workers and working practices. Conditions and activities of ŞÖNİMs should be rendered such that the information about women is kept confidential and effective services are provided from a perspective in favour of women.
19. Adequate budget should be earmarked for ŞÖNİMs, Women’s Shelters and Solidarity Centres of municipalities. Closed solidarity/counselling centres and women’s shelters should be reopened. ŞÖNİMs, women’s shelters and solidarity centres should be opened in provinces and districts without any of these institutions and the overall numbers of these units should be increased. The work of local women’s organizations in this regard should be supported.
20. In accordance with the by-law in the field of violence against women, women professionals such as social workers and psychologists should primarily be employed. The wage of personnel should be adjusted in consideration of the wear and tear involved at work.
21. Interpreters should be available at ŞÖNİMs and municipal counselling centres and women’s shelters. Women should receive support in their native language. In accordance with the İstanbul Convention, all women, regardless of their migrant of refugee status, should be able to receive the same support; and the services should be adjusted to accommodate the specific needs of migrant/refugee women.
22. Options other than women’s shelters should be developed for women in need of shelter and women in poverty or in need of a place to stay.
23. Conveying the messages/petitions of husbands or other family members (even though they had not directly inflicted violence) requesting to meet a woman staying at a women’s shelter could be an attempt to mediation or to dissuade the woman or a practice of psychological violence. Hence, this practice of “conveying communication requests” should be abandoned given that women can themselves contact these persons should they wish to do so.
24. Free of charge and accessible nurseries that match working hours, including nurseries for newborns, should be opened in every neighbourhood.
25. It should be mandatory to provide supervisory support for all staff working in the field of violence and funding should be earmarked for this support. Professionals working in relevant institutions should continue to have regular trainings. In case of changes in personnel, new staff should first receive gender training.
26. The number of clients per staff member working in the field of violence should be determined in line with global standards. In order to ensure efficiency, where the number of clients is high, the number of staff should be increased as opposed to increasing the number of clients per staff member.
27. Municipalities should establish separate units to draft and monitor a strategic plan for combatting violence against women as well as an advisory board that will work on preventing violence. Representatives from independent women’s organizations should be present in these units and they should also be a natural member of city councils affiliated with local governments.
28. An annual local action plan should be developed to combat male violence against women. Local governments should refrain from using anti-gender equality language in all its work, practices and services. In case a municipal worker commits violence, the municipality should impose sanctions on the abusive worker as is the case in other good practices.
29. ALO violence helpline should be available 24/7 in local governments; and there should be an emergency button in all neighbourhoods.
30. When women leave women’s shelters, the social economic support available to them for certain periods of time should be provided regardless of whether women have children. Budget should be allocated for social policies that aim at empowering women.
31. Access to free nurseries remains challenging although it is stipulated by the By-Law on Nurseries and Day Care Centres; therefore, it is necessary to increase the number of nurseries and monitor the quota determined for private nurseries.
32. Due to shortage of staff, activities related to children-adolescents are not carried out in a qualified way. Hence, in accordance with the Law no. 6284 and the “By-Law on Women’s Guesthouses”, separate housing should be provided for women who have sons over 12 years old and who contact women’s shelters, without the prerequisite that their lives be at risk.
33. The number of First Step Centres and their staff should be increased. The centres should be structured to be able to meet the acute needs of women and children.
34. The law no. 6284 applies to all women in Turkey, including migrant women and refugee women; therefore, migrant/refugee women should not be discriminated against by being asked to provide official papers to receive support including a medical report of battery etc.
35. An infrastructure should be established to ensure that confidentiality orders are implemented without creating a barrier to women in accessing education, health and public services. In the context of confidentiality orders, women’s access to services provided by all institutions should be facilitated.
36. The legislation which sets out the boundaries and rules to ensure the safety of women staying at women’s shelters should be revised so that it supports women’s empowerment and does not contain any practices contrary to human rights.
37. Municipalities should open equality units and women’s directorates. Women’s shelters and counselling centres should be affiliated under these equality units or women’s directorates.

Components of the Assembly of Women’s Shelters and Solidarity/Counselling Centres*

1. Adana Women’s Solidarity Centre and Shelter Association (AKDAM)
2. Antalya Women’s Counselling Centre and Solidarity Association
3. Aydın Söke Women’s Shelter Association
4. Bodrum Women’s Solidarity Association
5. Buca Evka-1 Women’s Culture and Solidarity Association (BEKEV)
6. Çanakkale Association for Utilizing Women’s Handicraft and Women’s Counselling Centre (ELDER)
7. Çiğli Evka-2 Women’s Culture Association (ÇEKEV)
8. Edirne Women’s Central Solidarity Association (EKAMEDER)
9. Association of Women With Disabilities (ENG-KAD)
10. Fethiye Women’s Solidarity Association
11. İzmir Women’s Solidarity Association
12. Women’s Solidarity Foundation
13. Women’s Solidarity Foundation (KADAV)
14. Women from the closed Adıyaman Women’s Life Association
15. Women from the closed Ceren Women’s Association
16. Women from the closed Gökkuşağı (Rainbow) Women’s Association
17. Women from the closed Muş Women’s Roof Association
18. Women from the closed Selis Women’s Association
19. Activist Women from the closed Van Women’s Association (VAKAD)
20. Koza Women’s Association
21. Mersin Independent Women’s Association (BKD)
22. Mor Çatı Women’s Shelter Foundation
23. Mor Salkım Women’s Solidarity Association
24. Muğla Emek Benim Women’s Association
25. Şanlıurfa Yaşamevi Women’s Solidarity Association
26. International Migrant Women’s Solidarity Association (UGKDD)
27. Life, Women, Environment, Culture and Business Cooperative (YAKA-KOOP)

*Adıyaman Women’s Life Association, Ceren Women’s Association, Gökkuşağı Women’s Association, Muş Women’s Roof Association, Muş Women’s Association, Selis Women’s Association and Van Women’s Association, which are components of the Assembly of Women’s Shelters and Solidarity/Counselling Centres, could not sign the Concluding Declaration because they were closed by the Decree (KHK/677) dated 22 November 2016 on Some Measures Within the Scope of the State of Emergency.