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KHRP attending the 46th session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights |
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Today, KHRP is participating in the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights review of Turkey’s report on its compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. KHRP expects that the Committee will raise concerns it highlighted in its submission to the Committee last year on Turkey’s compliance, as well as gauging Turkey's overall progress in respecting, protecting and fulfilling the Covenant rights for all its citizens.
Turkey's obligations under several of the articles in the Covenant are of particular concern to KHRP. In terms of the right to self-determination, Turkey needs to be pressed to ensure that it fulfills its obligations in this area and for its Kurdish citizens to be able to have meaningful participation in society, particularly in light of continued repression and attacks on fundamental political freedoms that should be enjoyed by all regardless of cultural background. KHRP has also raised concerns regarding education rights, noting that there remains an alarming disparity in literacy rates between Turkey's Kurdish minority and the rest of the population. Turkey's limits on expression of Kurdish culture and language are having profound effects both in respect to education and employment, and KHRP urges the Committee to appropriately address this violation of several Covenant rights during Turkey's review. Recently, KHRP has focussed extensively on the situation of children in the region and believes that Turkey must be urged to improve its respect for the Covenant rights of children immediately.
Rachel Bernu, KHRP Managing Director, said “Turkey's respect for Economic, Social and Cultural rights varies greatly, and whilst it has made some progress, the situation in the region remains unacceptable. As a party to the Covenant, Turkey should be urged to take all necessary steps to remedy the concerns raised at the Committee, as well as making a firm commitment to ensure that it fulfills its human rights obligations with respect to all of its citizens. KHRP will continue to advocate on behalf of the Kurds in this region and elsewhere, and hopes that Turkey's review will represent genuine and tangible progress in respect for human rights in the region”. |
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KHRP disappointed by ongoing violent repression in Syria. |
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KHRP is gravely concerned by the overall human rights situation within Syria, despite some positive steps made by the Syrian regime, including reinstating citizenship rights to the majority of its citizens of Kurdish origin.
KHRP condemns the ongoing violent repression of dissent, including indiscriminate shootings , arbitrary detention, and ongoing ill treatment of those in detention by the regime. Reports coming out of the country have indicated that despite the aforementioned concessions, repression and state violence have intensified over recent days. The repression also appears to be targeting those who are trying to report the situation on the ground in Syria, with reports of journalists being detained in recent days without justification.
Syria must respect its people's right to express themselves peacefully and their right to demand their universally recognised rights, rights that Syria is obligated to respect through the various international human rights treaties to which it is a party. Syria must ensure that its security forces are held accountable for their actions, and guarantee the safety of all of its citizens regardless of what beliefs they may hold.
KHRP's chief executive, Kerim Yildiz, said today: 'Responding to legitimate and peacefully expressed demands with extreme violence, intimidation and repression is unacceptable behaviour for any state to engage in. Despite showing signs of progress with the concessions and reforms announced recently, the Syrian authorities appear to still be bent on preventing the enjoyment of freedom of expression through whatever means necessary. KHRP calls on Syria to change its approach to dissent and free expression, whilst also calling on the international community to urge Syria to respect the rights of its citizens'.
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KHRP Welcomes Reforms, Hopes a Sign of ‘Real Change’ to come |
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Kurdish Human Rights Project welcomes the recent steps taken by the Syrian government as part of a package of concessions in light of recent protests. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has decreed that people registered as “foreigners” in the northeastern region of Hasake, an implicit reference to the Kurds, would be granted “Syrian Arab nationality”. This decree is an important step in the right direction, as there are currently around 300,000 Kurds who are effectively stateless due to the controversial 1962 census that arbitrarily stripped many Kurds of their citizenship.
In addition to this, the Syrian government has released forty-eight Kurds detained for the past year since the Newroz shootings of March 21, 2010. During this incident in the eastern town of Al-Raqqa, security forces opened fire on participants celebrating Newroz, the Kurdish New Year, and detained many others. Despite the release of these individuals, the Syrian government continues to treat protests across the country as signs of sedition and has countered the protesters with arbitrary arrests and the firing of live ammunition.
KHRP Chief Executive Kerim Yildiz said today, 'We are pleased to learn of these new but long overdue developments and hope they are but the first of many to come. Granting citizenship rights to Syrians in the Kurdish region who —along with the generations who came after them— were left officially stateless without cause, is an important and key step. Nonetheless, much more is needed before we can say that real change for the human rights landscape in Syria is happening.'
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KHRP Highlights The Ongoing Unrest in Syria |
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KHRP is alarmed by the Syrian regime’s violent response to its citizens for expressing their dissatisfaction with their government. The repression and threats are unlikely to bring any stability and are more likely to further escalate the situation. In the Kurdish region, expression of identity as well as any dissent has long been suppressed with violence by the state. Indeed, the KHRP has met with various European governments’ immigration agencies that have been flooded with asylum applications in recent years because of the brutal repression Kurds face by the Syrian state to discuss the grounds for such applications. KHRP hears of stories on a weekly basis of varying human rights violations including: arbitrary arrest and detention; torture whilst in detention; the inability to contact family or loved ones; deaths in custody and unlawful killings at demonstrations.
KHRP believes the Syrian government is missing an opportunity to allow its people to have a voice in their governance. Instead of blaming outsiders or making threats against protesters, the government should be looking to lift the state of emergency law that has been in place since the Baathist have been in power and allow for free expression and political dissent.
In response to the situation, KHRP Chief Executive Kerim Yildiz stated today ‘Syria could use this rare moment in history to make right some of its past wrongs by re-instating citizenship rights to the approximately 300,000 Kurds who were stripped of their citizenship rights by a decree in the 1960s. The Syrian government, like all governments, has a responsibility to its people that includes respecting their fundamental human rights. It extremely unfortunate that it continues to choose a path that can only lead to further unlawful violence and rights violations. KHRP calls on the international community to use its good offices with governments and businesses who have a channel of communication with this regime to state in no uncertain terms that respect for human rights is fundamental and integral to all dealings with the outside world.’
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Kerim Yildiz / Rachel Bernu
Kurdish Human Rights Project
11 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1DH
Tel: 020 7405 3835
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www.khrp.org
The Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) is a UK registered charity committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all persons living within the Kurdish regions. Its innovative and strategic approach to international human rights practice, combined with a long-term and consistent presence in the region, enables it to secure redress for survivors of human rights violations and prevent abuse in the future.
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Turkey’s Village Guard System – Still in Place, Still an Obstacle |
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Kurdish Human Rights Project released a briefing paper today on Turkey’s long running, problematic village guard system. This system, which was established in its current form in 1985, has been responsible for numerous human rights violations and other crimes.
Currently the village guard system represents a major obstacle to the return of Kurds who were displaced from their villages during the 1990s but also the larger development of a peaceful political solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey.
Although on the payroll of the Turkish state ostensibly to help ensure security, the guards are more often associated with rampant rights violations of civilians and each other. Reports of criminal acts and rights violations carried out by the village guards in Turkey have led international human rights groups, the EU and bodies within the Turkish government to call for the abolition of the system.
Although the Turkish government has repeatedly stated its intention to disband the system, to date they continue recruitment for it. In this, the village guards continue to violate the rights of returnees and each other, largely with impunity.
‘It is shockingly contradictory that the same Turkish government continues to use this system, which it has itself recognized is inherently and irreparably flawed, is the government that has made so many legislative changes to help better protect human rights in Turkey. By continuing this failed system, the government does itself and its people a disservice and undermines human rights advancements in other areas. Is Turkey committed to human rights for all of its citizens or not?' KHRP Managing Director, Rachel Bernu asked.
A copy of KHRP’s briefing paper can be found here here
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Anna Irvin / Rachel Bernu
Kurdish Human Rights Project
11 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1DH
Tel: 020 7405 3835
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.khrp.org
The Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) is a UK registered charity committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all persons living within the Kurdish regions. Its innovative and strategic approach to international human rights practice, combined with a long-term and consistent presence in the region, enables it to secure redress for survivors of human rights violations and prevent abuse in the future.
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