UN Women (the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women), grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. In Turkey, in line with its global Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and Country Strategic Note (2022-2025), and the overall UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Turkey (UNSDCF) (2021-2025), UN Women works towards the overarching goal of “Women and girls including those at greatest risk of being left behind fully exercise their human rights, enjoy a life free from violence and discrimination, and lead, influence and benefit from sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development towards the advancement of gender equality in Turkey.” UN Women works in four thematic areas: (i) governance and participation in public life; (ii) women’s economic empowerment; (iii) ending violence against women and girls; and (iv) women, peace and security, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction. UN Women contributes to three UNSDCF outcomes: 1) Women and girls have improved and equal access to resources, opportunities, and rights, and enjoy a life without violence and discrimination; 2) By 2025, Persons under the Law on Foreigners and International Protection are supported towards self-reliance. 3) By 2025, governance systems are more transparent, accountable, inclusive and rights-based with the participation of civil society, and quality of judicial services is improved. As a state party to CEDAW, Turkey has obligations to combat VAW in line with international standards. Law No: 6284 on the Protection of Family and Prevention of Violence against Women (VAW) from 2012 provides an essential framework for preventing violence and protecting victims/survivors. The recently released Fourth National Action Plan on Violence against Women 2021-2025 sets out a series of objectives, including Objective 1, focused on effective implementation of access to justice and legislation. In line with the legal and policy framework in place, Turkey has established various mechanisms and initiatives to strengthen women’s access to justice in case of violence. Among the existing family courts, specialized courts are identified to hear applications under Law No: 6284. In addition, the government has established 192 Offices of Domestic Violence and Violence Against Women within the Offices of Chief Public Prosecutors, tasked with investigating VAW cases, implementing Law No: 6284, and monitoring the implementation of protective orders. In 2020, Turkey announced new regulations to establish the Department of Legal Support and Victim Services under Ministry of Justice. President of the Department directly reports to Deputy Minister. The Department currently oversees 114 Legal Support and Victims Services Directorates located in courthouses, and is working on increasing the number of Directorates. The Directorates provide support to vulnerable groups and offer guidance about justice processes, psychosocial support, and legal aid services to victims of violence. As has been the case globally, during the Covid-19 crisis violence against women and girls has worsened due to women being locked at home with their abusers, increased economic hardship, and difficulties accessing services. While Turkey has made various legal and policy commitments to combat violence against women and girls (VAWG), VAWG continues to be pervasive and, victims and survivors encounter barriers in accessing the justice system. Building on these initiatives, UN Women embarked on a one-year project “Strengthening Women’s Access to Justice and Improving Response of Judicial System for More Effective Implementation of Legislation in Combating Violence against Women in Turkey” as of January 2022, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and main partner of which is the Ministry of Justice (MoJ, the Ministry) Legal Support and Victims Services Department. In addition to the overarching objective to attain efficient implementation of Law No:6284, free from gender-based stereotypes and in a survivor-centered manner, the project aims to support the realization of specific objectives in the 4th National Action Plan on Combating Violence against Women and the Human Rights Action Plan which fall under the responsibility of the justice sector and where gaps in implementation have been identified, as well as the Human Rights Action Plan, 11th National Development Plan and MoJ Judicial Reform Strategy. The Project will support increasing the effectiveness of the Ministry in the implementation Law No: 6284 in line with CEDAW and domestic, international good practices and international standards and norms. The Project consists of two outputs; - Capacity development for judges of the Family Courts and public prosecutors of the Offices of Domestic Violence and Violence Against Women; and,
- Developing tools to improve the performance of Legal Support and Victim Services Directorates and the accessibility of their services by women.
With regards to the first output; in close cooperation with a Working Group consisting of judges and public prosecutors, who are experienced in working on VAW cases through family courts and relevant investigation bureaus, a curriculum for peer-to-peer experience sharing workshops will be developed, a series of such workshops will be facilitated, and knowledge products will be formulated for the use of the MoJ, and judges and prosecutors. A study visit to observe good practices on combatting violence against women will also be organized. With regards to the second output, a needs assessment will be conducted to Legal Support and Victim Services Directorates across selected provinces, meetings which bring civil society, public stakeholders and the Directorates together will be organized in selected provinces and a series of informative documents will be prepared and disseminated on the Directorates to increase public knowledge and accessibility of services provided by the recently established Legal Support and Victims Services Directorates. UN Women will follow a systematic approach towards effective and results oriented capacity development with a team consisting of national and international consultants and UN Women technical staff responsible for different aspects of the capacity development activities in line with their expertise. In this regard, UN Women is looking for a National Consultants to provide their technical support during capacity building and improvement of performance to the Project team during the planning and implementation of the “Strengthening Women’s Access to Justice and Improving Response of Judicial System for More Effective Implementation of Legislation in Combating Violence against Women in Turkey” project. |