The Assembly of Women’s Shelters, which has been convening annually for the last four years on the occasion of 25 November declared by the United Nations as the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women”, was held for the fifth time on 23-24 November 2002 in İzmit and hosted by İzmit Değirmendere Women’s Support, Environment, Culture and Business Cooperative with support from Heinrich Böll Foundation.
The purpose of the Assembly hosted by women from İzmit was to draw attention to the rise in violence against women and poverty in the region in the aftermath of the 17 August earthquake. 155 women representing 53 women’s groups and organisations from various provinces in Turkey joined the Assembly. In the year that has passed since the fourth Council meeting, we, the women’s council, have followed up on our demands, some of which have been fulfilled and listed below:
- As a result of years of struggle by women and their intensifying pressure last year, the Civil Code was amended and the matrimonial property regime was adopted, leaving the period prior to 1 January 2002 out of the scope for current marriages.
- In 2002, the Circular on the implementation of the Law no. 4320 on the Protection of the Family was enacted by the Minister of Justice Aysel Çelikel.
- The Optional Protocol to CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) was ratified.
- A new by-law was adopted introducing relative improvements to the problems of sex workers.
- The concept of “honour killings”, particularly emphasized in the Concluding Declaration of the 2nd Council meeting, was included in the article on violence against women in Beijing+5 Declaration.
- The Constitutional Committee of the TGNA agreed to establish a Committee for Monitoring the Equality Between Women and Men. The proposal was discussed in terms of the TGNA Rules of Procedure and it proceeded to the implementation stage.
Independent women’s groups participating in the 5th Council first considered the results of the elections held on 3 November 2022. They were critical of the AKP and the Government programme for the lack of a clear reference to “the principle of equality between women and men” and to “temporary special measures to be taken by the State until the goal of equality in opportunity and in implementation is achieved” (principles of “affirmative action”, “quota” vs.)
Participants voiced their demands from the government to immediately fulfil the pledges given by the State of the Republic of Turkey with respect to implementing the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The government is called out to take action on the below four points in particular:
- AKP should deliver on the promise it made in the previous legislative year and IMMEDIATELY amend article 10 of the Civil Code which specifies the Enforcement of the law so that it applies to marriages prior to 1 January 2022 since this is a major tool for preventing violence and achieving real equality in the family.
- As stipulated by international conventions, preventing violence against women is a priority duty for the state. A social mobilization should be launched aiming at eliminating violence and biases, traditions, customs and opinions etc. that feed violence. A specific law should be adopted on the prevention of violence against women. On every 25 November, the TGNA should discuss the prevention of violence against women at a dedicated session; and taking account of the EU criterion of “a shelter for every 7500 women and girls”, the following steps should be taken:
- As is the case in most of the countries in the world, an additional budget item should be earmarked for funding women’s organizations working in Turkey to open women’s shelters and these efforts should be supported with additional funds (in similar fashion to the case in developed countries, this should be done without interfering in the independence of women’s organizations);
- The budgetary share allocated to SHÇEK should be bigger. The number of SHÇEK shelters and the service quality should be increased, and these services should be excluded from austerity measures. Women that have a woman’s perspective should be employed in these organizations, which should be run in communication with independent women’s organizations;
- In a similar vein to the regulations in the EU states, the law on Local Governments should include an article requiring that women’s shelters be opened, run and supervised by women’s organisations. Local governments should work in cooperation with women CSOs;
- Poverty, women in poverty in particular, is not specific to times of crisis or a temporary phenomenon but a structural problem. Given that women are the first to be hit by poverty, the emergency action plan should include social assistance which amounts to constant and regular income for women in poverty and the money should be directly handed to women. Inequality in treatment with respect to family allowance, child allowance, housing allowance and social payments should be removed, and the joint decision of spouses should be the basis in these types of social assistance. Women that have experienced violence and are trying to build a life free of violence should be given support to resolve their housing problems. They should be given priority in free education opportunities for their children as well as free health services and job replacement. The same opportunities should be provided to women who are survivors of disasters or have suffered due to migration;
- The Directorate General for Women’s Status and Problems (KSSGM) should be reinstated under the Prime Ministry as an institution that coordinates plans and policies concerning women; and its organizational law should be enacted as soon as possible. A Woman Prime Minister should be appointed in order to coordinate all ministerial work concerning women from a central position. A Standing Committee for equality between women and men should be established in the TGNA. A holistic institutionalization process involving human resources, financial resources and all necessary mechanisms should be initiated. A Framework Law on Equality should be adopted in line with the principle of affirmative action (article 4 of CEDAW).
Considering the vital importance of these priorities for women, the Assembly participants demanded that the government, without delay, include these points in the EMERGENCY ACTION PLAN to achieve a resolution. The Assembly, comprising women’s organizations working closely on violence against women, decided to request an appointment with the PRIME MINISTER, RELEVANT MINISTERS and WOMEN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT to inform the government of the Assembly’s conclusions, develop work programmes and remind the government of the pledges it had made to work in cooperation with CSOs and of the duty given by the UN to the member states to “facilitate and enhance the work of the women’s movement and non-governmental organizations and cooperate with them at local, national and regional levels”.
Women participants of the Assembly decided to convey their demands listed below to other relevant circles and work to become an effective pressure group on these points:
- Public and local government budgets should earmark appropriations for expenditures related to women’s affairs in general and specifically for preventing violence against women and conducting support programmes for women. Furthermore, budgets should be prepared from a gender perspective;
- Gender sensitivity training should be provided for public employees in every field and at every level;
- Women working in the public sector should be excluded from the ex officio retirement schemes adopted on the grounds of crisis response measures and policies for downsizing the state;
- Abortion, birth control and delivery should be free of charge regardless of marital status and the woman’s consent should be adequate for these procedures;
- Women should be entitled to two months of maternity leave prior to childbirth and post-partum maternity leave of one year;
- With a view to reconciling work life and family obligations, there should be a nursery in every workplace that has a certain number of workers, regardless of the sex of workers;
- The law no. 4320 on the protection of the family should be frequently promoted via radio and tv broadcasts. Training on violence against women should be given to all members of professions that have a responsibility for combatting violence against women, including, above all, the security units, the Ministry of Justice staff, social workers and persons working in the medical field;
- In order to explain to women their human rights and the ways to counter violence in their own language, it is necessary to make resources and job positions available, prepare education materials, develop education programmes and open literacy courses in native languages;
- Privatization in the fields of education, health and social security should be halted;
- The Law on Family Courts should be passed urgently, and judges (preferably women) who have a woman’s consciousness should be appointed to these courts;
- At least a 30 % of quota for women should be applied in all decision management and oversight mechanisms, and political parties and the elections law should be revised in line with these principles;
- It is essential to urgently set up a nationwide and free of charge “VIOLENCE HELPLINE”, for which the Assembly of independent women’s shelters had already started the preparations. It should be possible to call the helpline dialling the same number from anywhere across the country. The helpline should provide information on what action to take urgently and where to contact, ensuring that callers can reach the women’s groups in their region;
- The legislation on sex workers should be revised in consideration of the international declaration on the right of sex workers, and from a woman’s perspective and ethics. Furthermore, the right of sex workers and persons with different sexual preferences to work in sectors other than prostitution sector should be legally recognised. Legal regulations should be introduced to ensure that workplaces employing a certain number of workers should also hire transvestites and transsexuals;
- Women’s rights implementation centres established within bar associations should be expanded to every province across the country;
- It is imperative to stand against war, which comprises all forms of violence and primarily threats women and children. The budget allocated to armaments should be transferred to the budget for preventing violence against women.
The Assembly once again emphasized that violence against women can be prevented if women stand in solidarity and have an organised structure and hence decided to establish a COMMUNICATION CENTRE with the aims of ensuring exchange of information, documentation and experience among women’s organizations working to combat violence against women, creating a common language, developing and implementing an education programme and speeding up and sustaining communication.
A MONITORING COMMITTEE is set up to monitor the practices of the government and relevant parties with regard to the elimination of discrimination against women, as well as to identify the gaps and alerts the government when necessary.
Another decision taken at the Assembly is to bring the attention of the relevant UN COMMITTEE to the decision of the Constitutional Court which “compelled married women to adopt the surname of their husbands in addition to their maiden names” as this is against the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Participants of the Assembly
- Adana Family Counselling Centre
- Adana Union of Women’s Organizations
- Adana Association for Establishing Women’s Shelters
- Adana Local Agenda 21 City Council Women’s Assembly
- AMARGİ – Adana
- AMARGİ – İstanbul
- Ankara Bar Association Women’s Counselling Centre
- Ankara Bar Association Women’s Commission
- Antalya Women’s Counselling and Solidarity Centre
- Antalya Local Agenda 21 Women’s Assembly
- Avcılar Cooperative for Women Working Home Based
- Independent Women’s Association Counselling Centre-Mersin
- Independent Women’s Initiative-İzmir
- Independent Women Exist Group (Bağımsız Kadınlar Vardır Grubu) -Ankara
- Batman Women’s Counselling Centre
- Bursa Bar Association Women’s Commission
- Women of the Republic Association-Ankara
- Association for Utilizing the Handicraft of Çanakkale Housewives and Women’s Counselling Centre
- Dicle Women’s Culture Centre -İstanbul
- Diyarbakır Bar Association Women’s Counselling Centre
- Diyarbakır Women’s Problems Research and Implementation Centre – DİKASUM
- Aegean Women’s Counselling Foundation -EKDAV
- Feminist Women’s Circle
- Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Work
- İstanbul Bar Association Women’s Rights Implementation Centre
- İzmir Bar Association Women’s Rights Implementation Centre
- İzmit Independent Women’s Initiative
- İzmit Women’s Centre
- İzmit SHÇEK, ATİAD (The Association of Turkish Businessmen & Industrialists in Europe) Community Centre
- İzmit-Değirmendere Women’s Support Centre
- Jiyan Women’s Culture and Art House
- KADER –Balıkesir Branch
- Women’s Solidarity Group -İzmir
- Women’s Solidarity Foundation -Ankara
- Women for Women’s Human Rights (WWHR) – New Ways
- Women’s Solidarity Foundation -KADAV
- KAMER Women’s Centre-Diyarbakır
- Karşıyaka City Council Women’s Solidarity Centre -İzmir
- Karşıyaka City Council Women’s Commission-İzmir
- Kızıltepe Women’s Solidarity Centre
- Mor Çatı Women’s Shelter Foundation
- SELİS Women’s Counselling Centre-Diyarbakır
- Social Services and Child Protection Agency -SHÇEK (Ankara, İzmir, Denizli, İstanbul)
- Şahmaran Women’s Support Centre
- Şirinköy Fiskos Women’s Cooperative for Environment, Culture and Business
- Union of Turkish Bar Associations Women’s Law Committee TÜBAKKOM
- Amnesty International Turkey Women’s Commission
- Reshaping Health and Education Association -İstanbul