Between 25-28 May, the Pre-Sessional Working Group to the 44th Session of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), is due to prepare questions to put to Turkey regarding its implementation of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

Last month KHRP submitted its report to the Pre-Sessional Working Group which outlined a list of issues it believes warrants consideration. Ahead of Turkey’s review, KHRP wishes to draw attention to several significant areas where the Turkish government has failed to carry out its obligations under the ICESCR in upholding the rights of its Kurdish citizens. They include Turkey’s continued exclusion of Kurds from their official definition of ‘minority’ groups; institutionalised restrictions faced by Kurds in fields such as education and the use of the Kurdish language; and how restrictions on the media, trade unions and gender inequality have a disproportionately negative effect on Turkey’s Kurdish population.

‘Despite the recent introduction and proposal of reforms aimed at improving Kurdish cultural rights, provisions to date remain woefully inadequate,’ said KHRP Managing Director, Rachel Bernu. ‘KHRP urges the Committee to press Turkey over measures it is taking to implement the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which its Kurdish population is entitled, and which can combat the systematic discrimination they continue to face.’

KHRP’s submission to the CESCR on Turkey is available to download here.