Human rights report reveals thousands of women subjected to rights violations in Turkish prisons

ANKARA — A human rights report prepared by Member of Turkish Parliament for the Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP) Szgen Tanri Gulu has uncovered thousands of violations of the rights of women held in Turkish prisons..

The report stated that there are 17,000 women in the country’s prisons, including those both convicted and detained. Approximately 3,000 children are imprisoned alongside their mothers, 300 of which are less than three years old. The report points out that during the 18 years of Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) rule, 6,732 women were known to have been murdered by men.

Disregard and ambivalence towards violence against women has become remarkable, states the report, and has resulted in increased levels of violence targeting women in both the home and in public.

The judiciary, now largely directed by the government, has done little to hold perpetrators of domestic violence and violence against women legally accountable, indicated the report.

It concludes with several recommendations to stop violence and crimes against women, including the effective implementation of the Istanbul Convention on the prevention and combating violence against women and domestic violence which the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the country’s intention to withdraw from.