DIYARBAKIR - Expresing that there were many violations of rights in the last year IHD (Human Right Associtiation) Co-Chairperson Rahşan Bataray said, “One of the issues on our agenda is torture. Intense physical torture was experienced both in detention centers and during demonstrations on the streets, and our reports include torture too ." 

 

December 10, the day when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was accepted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1948, is celebrated every year as World Human Rights Week. The picture of rights violations in the region and country continues to get worse day by day. IHD Co-Chairperson Rahşan Bataray talked about the violations of rights in the past year. Rahşan pointed out that there is a great oppression on human rights defenders regarding the announcement of rights violations and that the violations are wanted to be covered up.

 

‘We are working to raise awareness about rights.’

 

Rahşan stated that we are in the 72nd year of the acception of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She said that Turkey accepted the agreement on May 27, 1949. Rahşan, "As IHD we work with other human rights organizations in Turkey, especially with the Turkey Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) to the reporting of violations against society. We work to raise awareness about rights. Of course, our work develops very differently this year due to pandemic conditions. Before, we used to distribute brochures and prepare panels and seminars in homes, neighborhoods, and cafes to raise awareness of rights. This year, we are planning to continue our work mostly on social media ”.

 

‘Every day we wake up with new right violations’

 

Stating that human rights violations are increasing gradually, Rahşan said that they wake up with new right violations every day. Stating that the epidemic brought great human rights violations and victimization with it, Rahşan said ‘‘Of course these rights violations are happening all over the world. But, unfortunately, we see that violations continue increasingly  in areas where Kurds are densely populated for many years. Especially in recent years, we see that the oppressions against organizations that struggle in the field for human rights and women's rights, as well as against lawyers, has been increased by judicial detention. For example, due to the professional activities carried out by lawyers, their homes can be raided at night and they can be arrested and questioned. Many of our department heads and managers were detained and punished for their human rights activities. And we can say that there has never been this much oppression against human rights defenders ’’

 

'The oppression on the opponents is intense'

 

Expressing "The oppression against the opposition continues very intensely by the judiciary," Rahşan said "We see this oppression in the decision of the ECHR for arrest and violation of Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş. Another issue on our agenda is torture. Intense physical torture was experienced both in detention centers and during demonstrations on the streets, and our reports include this too. For example, there was a claim that a person was thrown from a helicopter in Van. There was torture there and a very serious violation of rights was experienced due to this torture. Unfortunately, security guards can use torture without any hesitation. There is a serious increase in violations of rights against women and children. In the pratice law left men from prisons at the beginning of the pandemic, we saw that women and children were left alone with the defendants who applied violence on them. This resulted in hundreds of women being killed. In addition to violations of rights, there have been detentions and arrests of women who struggle against rights violations ”.

 

"It is desired to cover up violations of rights"

 

Noting that there is a great oppression to announce the violations, Rahşan said, “There are human rights defenders who demand punishment of those responsible and reported the situation and torture. There is also increasing oppression to keep right violation unspoken and covered. In the past, the statements and decisions made by the EU countries were pressuring and this led to back steps in right violations . But in this period, there is a silence on this issue. There are also debatable decisions of the ECHR ”.

 

'We have limited possibilities for raising awareness'

 

Rahşan said, “Awareness raising activities in the field of human rights should be carried out in educational institutions of the state. Extra work should be done to raise awareness of the rights of state employees. Unfortunately for years, these have also been carried out by human rights defenders who work voluntarily and in limited conditions. Panels used to be made under more comfortable conditions in the past. Now, panels cannot be made sufficiently due to pandemic conditions. In addition, one of the reasons for the decrease in panels is the oppressions we face. Every day we see thousands of refugees and immigrants passing on the streets. They are exposed to many right violations and no protection and awareness activities are carried out for them. "We are doing our work on this subject too but in limited conditions."