The project was implemented under the Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey (Horizontal Facility II) 2019-2022, a joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe.

 

 

*The action came to an end on 30 June 2021 following Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention effective as from 1 July 2021.

 

about the project

The project aimed to strengthen local authorities’ capacity to respond to cases of violence against women and domestic violence in compliance with European standards on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, especially with the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention).

The project promoted a comprehensive and right-based approach to end violence against women in accordance with the Istanbul Convention, which Turkey ratified in 2012.

Building on recommendations of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), the monitoring mechanism of the Istanbul Convention, the project focused on increasing the knowledge and skills of key authorities to prevent all forms of violence against women, including domestic and sexual violence, to effectively protect victims and prosecute perpetrators.

More specifically, the project aimed to:

  • strengthen in-service training for legal and law enforcement professionals, including judges, prosecutors, police and gendarmerie, and for support service providers and other public officials through revision and development of training programmes and curricula and through conducting training of trainers, cascade trainings and a tutored HELP online training course
  • enhance coordination and multi-agency cooperation through peer-to-peer exchanges, sharing promising practices and development of guidelines and practical tools
  • increase awareness of relevant stakeholders on judicial support services for women victims of violence through provincial seminars and publications
  • increase awareness of the need for data collection on cases of violence against women, including sexual violence, among public officials through a study visit and an international seminar
Project publications and translations

 Project leaflet - ENG 

 General leaflet on the Istanbul Convention - TR

 Q&A on the Istanbul Convention - TR

 Info graphics on the four pillars of the Istanbul Convention – TR

 Borchure  on the four pillars of the Istanbul Convention - TR

Reports and studies

  • Ensuring Data Collection and Research on VAW and DV, Art. 11 of the IC - ENG / TR
  • Risk Assessment Standards and Methodologies for diverse stakeholders in Ukraine -  ENG / TR
  • Report on the webinar: Administrative data collection and analysis on violence against women and domestic violence - ENG / TR
  • Assessing and managing risks in cases of violence against women and domestic violence - ENG / TR
  • Trainers’ manual: Effective multi-agency co-operation for combating domestic violence - ENG / TR
  • Towards the Establishment of a Multi-Agency Cooperation Mechanism in Ukraine - ENG / TR

Videos on data collection on violence against women

Testimony of Biljana Brankovic

Testimony of Rosa Logar

Testimony of Gulriz Uygur

Testimony of Ilknur Yuksel Kaptanoglu

News

Back Civil society organisations start activities to increase awareness on women’s access to justice in Türkiye

Civil society organisations start activities to increase awareness on women’s access to justice in Türkiye

Four civil society organisations (CSOs) kicked off their activities targeting women and legal professionals in Türkiye to increase awareness and legal literacy among women.

Their activities intend to empower women to claim their rights and to develop networks and capacities of legal professions to facilitate women’s and girls’ access to justice. These grants are provided within the framework of the action “Fostering women’s access to justice in Turkey” implemented under the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022".

Below are some highlights from these activities:

 The Foundation for Women’s Solidarity (Kadın Dayanışma Vakfı)

The Foundation for Women’s Solidarity is providing legal assistance to women in order to increase their access to legal aid and available services and continuing to bring together the lawyers to create a platform to share experiences on women’s access to justice.

A total of 20 provinces are targeted (Ankara, Izmir, istanbul, Adana, Urfa, Van, Gaziantep, Düzce, Yalova, Diyarbakır, Corum, Trabzon, Batman, Bursa, Manisa, Hatay, Eskisehir, Rize, Mersin and Samsun). The Women Counselling Centre has provided legal assistance to 230 people through a network of social workers and lawyers. In addition, two online experience-sharing workshops were organised to facilitate exchange among 23 lawyers from bar associations from Ankara, Istanbul, Mersin, Adana, Van, Diyarbakir, Samsun, Mugla and Gaziantep. The workshops focused on the challenges and obtacles faced by women victims/survivors of violence and the role of legal aid to support women’s access to justice.

 Flying Broom Foundation (Uçan Süpürge Vakfı)

A 10-weeks online training programme has started to promote women’s and girl’s access to justice with the participation of lawyers, law students and trainee lawyers from various provinces in Türkiye.

The Flying Broom Foundation held two two-day online training on “women’s and girls’ access to justice”. A total of 137 legal professionals, including lawyers from different civil society organisations and bar associations including Ankara Bar, Adana, Samsun, Istanbul, Manisa, Mugla and Hatay, as well as trainee lawyers and law students got acquainted with women’s and girls’ access to justice rights and on available legal aid mechanisms.

In addition to the training programme, the grantee CSO has also started the preparation of a “guide on girls’ access to justice and legal aid mechanisms”. The guide will be available in the Union of Turkish Bar Associations online library, Ankara Bar Association’s website, Ankara University and Women’s Studies Center’s websites.

 Soroptimist International of Türkiye (Türkiye Soroptimist Kulupleri İş ve Meslek Kadınları Dernekleri Federasyonu)

A group of 147 women volunteer moderators, co-ordinators and lawyers attended a two-day training of trainers’ session on women’s access to justice and legal aid to launch women’s legal literacy programme in 8 cities across Türkiye.

The purpose of the project is to increase women’s legal literacy in three main themes: women’s human rights and combating gender-based violence; women’s economic and social rights and family law.

Soroptimist International organised two training sessions in Adana with the participation of 44 women with disadvantaged backgrounds. Participating women were informed about human rights, gender equality, civil rights, gender-based violence, divorce and alimony as well as availabe remedies and support services. These training sessions will continue face-to-face in Ankara, Bursa, Denizli, Hatay, Istanbul, Izmir, Mersin and Zonguldak and reach 450 more women.

 The Association of Solidarity with Syrian Refugees in Izmir (İzmir'de Suriyeli Mültecilerle Dayanışma Derneği)

This organisation aims at increasing legal literacy and legal awareness of refugee women through technological tools.

The Association conducted a need analysis among refugee women, who are among the vulnerable women group with limited access to information and services. The need analysis unfolds that inadequate knowledge of legal procedures and services, including legal aid, poses a significant barrier for refugee women to exercise their rights. Having this in mind, the Association has embarked on developing capacity building and awareness raising materials and tools, including a mobile application, website, and their content in the languages of target women (Turkish and Arabic), podcasts, videos and a handbook. The online tools will be available soon.

 

Related links

 Fostering women’s access to justice in Turkey

 Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022

 Council of Europe Programme Office in Ankara

Ankara 22/09/2022
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partners

Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services of Turkey

Ministry of Justice of Turkey

Ministry of Interior of Turkey (including the Police and Gendarmerie)

The Justice Academy of Turkey

European Union Delegation to Turkey

 

The project co-operated with different state institutions at central and local level as well as international and non-governmental organisations working in the field of combating and preventing violence against women and domestic violence and gender equality.

contacts

The project was implemented by

 the Capacity Building and Co-operation Projects Unit at the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Division

 Marta Becerra, Head of Unit, Project Manager

  Senem GUROL, Project Adviser 

together with

 the Council of Europe Office in Ankara

Kivilcim SUBASI, Project Assistant

 

duration

24 November 2019 - 30 June 2021

Donors

The European Union