On the evening of 10 June, KHRP attended a star-studded ceremony hosted by comedienne Jo Brand at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel for The Charity Awards 2010, the UK’s most prestigious non-profit sector awards event. KHRP was one of three organisations short-listed in the International Aid and Development category in recognition of the tireless work it does in helping to bring perpetrators of human rights abuse in the Kurdish regions to justice.
 
All nominees were shortlisted for ‘specific initiatives which have improved the delivery of their charitable objectives and which demonstrate outstanding examples of best practice from which other charities can learn.’ The annual awards, sponsored by the Charities Aid Foundation, The Leadership Trust and The Times, were organised this year by Charity Finance. KHRP’s nomination was based on our successful ‘procurement of the abolition of torture by all lawful means’ initiative in which we urged the Charity Commission to accept work aimed towards this end as a legitimate charitable activity. This has since enabled other UK charities to include this in their mandate, bringing justice to countless torture survivors in the Kurdish regions and globally. The initiative has also resulted in some noteworthy precedents as a result of KHRP strategic litigation at the European Court of Human Rights. Of particular importance here is the precedent set in the case of Aydin v Turkey which established rape, when used in times of conflict, as a recognised form of torture across all member states of the Council of Europe.

“It is both a great privilege and a source of great pride for KHRP to have been recognised and so highly-commended by The Charity Award judges,” said KHRP Chief Executive, Kerim Yildiz. “As expressed by the Award’s organiser, Daniel Phelan, by being short-listed KHRP ‘demonstrated that it is amongst the best-managed charities in the UK’. Accordingly, KHRP would like to thank everyone whose efforts over the years have made its successes possible.”

The distinguished panel of judges at this years event included John Low CBE, Chief Executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, Maeve Sherlock OBE, former Chief Executive of the Refugee Council, Dame Jo Williams, former Chief Executive of Mencap, Paul Winter, Chief Executive of The Leadership Trust, and Dame Mary Marsh, founding Director of the Clore Social Leadership Programme and former Chief Executive of the NSPCC. Celebrities in attendance at the event included Greta Scacchi, Lynda Bellingham, Jon Snow and Peter Bowles.

KHRP is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of ‘The Kurdish Conflict: International Humanitarian Law and Post-Conflict Mechanisms’ by Routledge next Monday 21 June 2010.

This book is written by KHRP Chief Executive Kerim Yıldız and Dr Susan Breau, Professor of International Law at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, who specialises in the law of armed conflict and international human rights law.

It is highly topical considering the ongoing conflict in the Kurdish region of Turkey, and the continued incursions into northern Iraq by the Turkish and Iranian armies and security forces, and Turkey's EU accession negotiations. Turkey has become an increasingly important player in Middle Eastern geopolitics. More than two decades of serious conflict in Turkey are proving to be a barrier to improved relations between Turkey and the EU. This book presents the first study to fully address the legal and political dimensions of the conflict, and their impact on mechanisms for conflict resolution in the region, offering a scholarly exploration of a debate that is often politically and emotionally highly charged.

Yıldız and Breau look at the practical application of the law of armed conflicts to the ongoing situation in Turkey and northern Iraq. The application of the law in this region also means addressing larger questions in international law, global politics and conflict resolution. Examples include belligerency in international law, whether the ‘war on terror’ has resulted in changes to the law of armed conflict and terrorism and conflict resolution.

The Kurdish Conflict explores the practical possibilities of conflict resolution in the region, examining the political dynamics of the region, and suggesting where lessons can be drawn from other peace processes, such as in Northern Ireland.

This book will be of great value to policy-makers, regional experts, and others interested in international humanitarian law and conflict resolution.

Hardback and Paperback copies of the book are available to pre-order from the KHRP website shop for £85.00 and £29.99 per copy respectively.