On 03 October 2024, the Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC) hosted a panel discussion entitled “Constrained Voices: The State of Human Rights and Civil Society in Türkiye” at the OSCE’s Human Dimension Conference in Warsaw. Organised in partnership with Turkish NGOs Hafıza Merkezi and Eşit Haklar İçin İzleme Derneği (ESHİD), the event attracted a diverse audience, including representatives from official delegations to the OSCE, along with academics, experts, and representatives from civil society organizations across the OSCE region. Burak Çelebi, Programme Officer from the NHC moderated the event.
Misuse of counter-terrorism legislation
The panel provided a critical platform to examine the challenges facing civil society organizations, activists, and citizens in Türkiye, amid a growing climate of repression. Key speakers shared their insights on the dire human rights situation in the country. Özlem Zıngıl from Hafıza Merkezi discussed persistent threats to human rights and the ongoing struggles of civil society, presenting a new report that investigates the misuse of counter-terrorism legislation against human rights defenders. This report offers a detailed analysis of how terrorism charges are being weaponized, effectively criminalizing those advocating for rights and freedoms and severely impacting civil liberties.
Freedom of assosociation and assembly – implications for the future of human rights
Işıl Demirakın from Eşit Haklar İçin İzleme Derneği (ESHID) provided insights from their latest publication on ‘Freedom of Association and Assembly’. This work contextualizes the pressures faced by civil society in Türkiye, shedding light on the implications for future human rights advocacy in an increasingly hostile environment. Demirakın also highlighted alarming statistics regarding the right to assemble, noting a staggering rise in protest-related arrests from 614 in 2021 to over 4,000 in 2023. She emphasized the difficulties in gathering accurate data due to escalating restrictions on media freedom and expression, pointing out that government transparency has drastically diminished over the past decade. As a result, organizations like ESHID face significant obstacles in accessing judicial information, complicating their ability to monitor the extent of democratic backsliding and human rights abuses.
Need for ongoing vigilance and advocacy in support of human rights
The event concluded with a brief Q&A session followed by closing remarks that reiterated the concerning trends in democratic health not only in Türkiye but across Europe, underscoring the critical need for ongoing vigilance and advocacy in support of human rights.
