A lot has happened since our last newsletter in June. Two new reports : One on Greece and one on Switzerland have been released. Please see further details below. Turkey has pulled out of the Istanbul Convention. A Roma man has died at the hands of the police in Czech Republic.
3 Demonstrations in four weeks : The vigil commemorating the forced expulsion of Roma from Kosovo on 13th June, the demonstration outside the Danish Embassy on 20th June (International Refugee Day) protesting at Denmark’s policy of forced return of asylum seekers to Syria, for tomorrow ( Sunday 4th July) I have called a vigil outside the Embassy of Czech Republic to protest about the death of Stanislav Tomas who died while handcuffed with a policeman pushing his knee onto his neck until he stopped breathing. Please find further details in the Newsletter.
Turkey
Compiled by Chris Ramsey
Büyükada case
At the time of writing we are still waiting anxiously for the decision of the Court of Cassation decision regarding the convictions of the four human rights defenders in the Büyükada case. As we have reported in past newsletters, the prosecutor at the Court of Cassation has issued his opinion asking for the conviction of former Chair of Amnesty Turkey, Taner Kılıç’s, to be upheld while requesting that the convictions of Günal Kurşun, İdil Eser and Özlem Dalkıran be overturned.
We expect a decision very soon, potentially within the coming weeks or months. Unfortunately, it is impossible to be more precise; however, we know that during the judicial holiday between 20 July and 31 August (dates to be confirmed), it is highly unlikely that the Court of Cassation decision would be issued.
This case is emblematic of the deteriorating human rights situation in Turkey and in particular the efforts of the state to neuter civil society NGOs in order to minimize their ability to criticize the government. In order to ensure that the government of Turkey is reminded of the importance of the case the International Secretariat and AIUK are currently working on new campaigning and advocacy materials which we will be sending you in the next few weeks so that you can help to maintain the profile of the case.
Istanbul Convention: Show solidarity with our colleagues in Amnesty Turkey at the government’s decision to pull out of the convention on 1 July
The Istanbul Convention is the most comprehensive international convention against violence against women and domestic violence. Now Turkey has exited the convention Amnesty Turkey is determined to show that people all around the world deplore this decision and want to stand in solidarity with women in Turkey.
Using the hashtag #arkasındayım , which means I stand in Turkish, please join their social media campaign.
Post on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram messages of support along the following lines:
Turkey should reverse its decision to leave the Istanbul Convention on July 1! To put an end to violations of rights and discrimination based on gender, we must all stand together in support of the Istanbul Convention #arkasındayım
#IstanbulConventionSavesLives @aforgutu
NB: You will need to copy and paste #arkasındayım because of the use of some Turkish letters in the word.
You could use the image below created by Amnesty Turkey to support your messages.
Please see a statement from new Amnesty International Secretary, General Agnes Callamard on the deteriorating situation for women in Turkey:- [Read more…]