News Center- Izmir Branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) Women Rights Commission has issued a statement to announce its report on women’s rights violations in the first months of 2021. The report was prepared on the basis of the applications to the association in İzmir, Afyon, Aydın, Denizli, Kütahya, Balıkesir, Muğla, Manisa, Uşak, Burdur and Isparta cities of Turkey. 294 rights violations occurred in the first four months of 2021, says the report. The report underlines that the number of rights violations against women, children, and LGBTI+ people has increased particularly after Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.

“Misogynist speeches increased”

The statement states that women saying, “Istanbul Convention keeps alive” were taken into custody and their pandemic conditions were ignored with the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. “Hate politics has fueled violence; we have heard the news on femicides, harassment, rape, and violence against women almost every day. Unemployed women have to do the housework and look after children with a limited budget due to the gender division of labor at home. They have to carry all the negativities because of their gender. Due to the pandemic, women have been worked from home and their responsibilities have increased and the negative effects of gender inequality have further increased domestic violence.”

“Detained women were subjected to violence”

In the statement, it is stated that violent political language encourages violence against women. “The divorced women, who demanded their alimony, were subjected to violence by their ex-husbands and threatened with death. Sexual abuse against girls has increased and news on suspicious women deaths has also increased. The rights violations against women in prisons have increased even more showing the pandemic as an excuse. Detentions and arrests against opposing women journalists, politicians, and academics have continued. Women were subjected to violence under detention. Women were subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including the strip search.”

The Tally of 2021 Aegean Region Rights Violations is as follows;

·         21 women were subjected to violence

·         3 women were subjected to harassment, rape

·         30 women were killed

·         The killers of 19 women went unpunished or received a reduced sentence

·         8 sexual abuse cases

·         37 women activists were detained

·         7 women were fired under Code29

·         Deceptive statements by law enforcement against 3 women activists

·         4 women were subjected to threat, death threat

·         9 women were handcuffed behind the back while being detained

·         6 women weren’t allowed to use the toilet under detention

·         37 women weren’t allowed to see their lawyers

·         9 women were beaten, subjected to violence under detention

·         37 women were subjected to insult under detention

·         3 suspicious women deaths

·         1 transwoman was killed

·         2 women were kidnapped

·         4 women went missing

·         20 women were forced into prostitution