Fostering women’s access to justice in Türkiye

The action on “Fostering women’s access to justice in Türkiye”, implemented under the European Union and Council of Europe’s joint “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, aimed to strengthen women's access to justice in Türkiye in line with international and European standards.

About the project

The action contributed to enhance accessibility and quality of legal aid and victim support services for women and supporting key stakeholders, including civil society, to facilitate women’s access to justice in Türkiye.

The action contributed to following specific objectives:

Improving the gender responsiveness of legal aid and victim support services to effectively respond to the needs of women.
Enhancing legal aid access for women, including through working with legal aid lawyers and civil society.
Increasing legal literacy and awareness among women, especially groups of women in vulnerable situation.

Results achieved:

Knowledge generated among key stakeholders on barriers for women's access to justice and legal aid and support services in Türkiye and on how to remove them.
Enhanced quality and gender responsiveness of legal aid and judicial support services through capacity building of legal aid and judicial support professionals.
Provision of legal aid and assistance to women in selected communities, including those from vulnerable or disadvantaged groups, by legal aid lawyers trained on gender-sensitive and victim-centred approaches.
Increased awareness and knowledge among women on their legal rights, how to exercise them and on available legal remedies and services, including legal aid and judicial support services.
Increased awareness and understanding among key stakeholders, including judicial and statistical authorities, on measuring women's access to justice and legal aid.

Project activities

The action carried out the following activities:

A research/study on the reality of barriers of women’s access to justice and legal aid in Türkiye with recommendations and ways forward
Providing legal aid to women, particularly to those from disadvantaged groups, by trained legal aid lawyers, in selected provinces
Capacity building programmes for legal aid lawyers and judicial support officers, on women’s access to justice, including training of trainers and online tutored training through Council of Europe HELP Programme (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals).
Guidelines/checklist for lawyers providing legal aid for women.
Seminar and publication on measuring women’s access to justice and legal aid through a seminar sharing European standards and promising practices
Targeted outreach and awareness raising workshops, seminars, materials, publications and translations.

Project publications and translations

Publications

Research Report on Understanding Barriers to Women’s Access to Justice and Legal Aid in Türkiye - ENG / TUR

Handbook for Legal Aid Lawyers on Women’s Access to Justice in Türkiye - ENG / TUR

Handbook on Strategic Litigation in the Area of Women’s Rights for Legal Practitioners in Türkiye - ENG / TUR

Translations

Gender equality and women’s rights – Council of Europe key standards - ENG / TUR

Guaranteeing equal access of women to justice – ENG / TUR

Equal access to justice in the case-law on violence against women before the European Court of Human Rights - ENG / TUR

Women’s access to justice: a guide for legal practitioners - ENG / TUR

Framework for measuring access to justice including specific challenges facing women - UN Women - Council of Europe - ENG / TUR

Roundtable on "Framework to measure access to justice including specific challenges facing women - ENG / TUR

News

Back Providing legal aid for women in Turkey: signing of a grant agreement with the Union of Turkish Bar Associations

A grant agreement that will strengthen access to legal aid for women in Turkey was signed between the Council of Europe and the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (UTBA). The ceremony was held on 8 March 2022 to mark the celebration of the International Women’s Day.

Signed within the framework of the European Union and Council of Europe joint action “Fostering women’s access to justice in Turkey”, this grant will be implemented by the UTBA in co-operation with local bar associations to provide legal aid services for women. It specifically aims to support women from disadvantaged groups facing additional barriers to reach legal aid and justice in Turkey, including women victims of violence and those from vulnerable groups in the selected pilot provinces, namely Ordu, Nevşehir, Diyarbakir, and Muğla.

During the signing ceremony, R. Erinç SAĞKAN, President of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations stressed that “With the support of the Council of Europe, we, as the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, are signing an important agreement today to eliminate the disadvantages of women in accessing justice in Turkey.”

The Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Ankara, Cristian Urse, highlighted that “This grant aims to extend legal aid and legal assistance to those women who are subject to violence or other forms of discrimination. It is important, together with the Turkish Union of Bar Associations, to look into the legal dimension of public policies and practices to foster an environment in which women’s rights would be better protected.”

Through the grant, it is expected that legal aid and assistance will be provided to women in at least 360 cases. Capacity and skills of legal aid lawyers will also strengthened through specific activities including tutored online training courses on “Access to justice for women” under the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP), to increase their awareness on international and national legal framework and existing barriers to women’s access to justice, including gender stereotypes and gender-based discrimination. Furthermore, legal aid lawyers will acquire knowledge of gender-responsive approaches and practices to prevent secondary victimisation in order to support women to exercise their rights and access to legal remedies.

The grant is provided as part of the Action entitled “Fostering women’s access to justice in Turkey”, implemented under the European Union and Council of Europe’s joint programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.

Ankara 09/03/22