In a letter to the Turkish Ministers of Interior and Justice sent on 17 June and published on Thursday 24 June, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, calls on the Turkish authorities to respect the commitments set out in the National Human Rights Plan launched on 2 March, to end the stigmatisation of LGBTI persons and to respect their freedom of assembly, association, and expression.
In this letter, Ms Mijatović expresses her concern on three levels.
As regards freedom of assembly, she is concerned about the “sweeping restrictions” that have hit the Pride marches in particular in recent years. She calls for the lifting of bans on such events and for “[ensuring] the safety of participants”.
Another concern is the restrictions on the activities of non-governmental organisations and the limits on freedom of association imposed by Ankara in the name of the fight against terrorism.
These measures have also hampered the work of LGBTI organisations, the Commissioner warns, recalling that she has repeatedly denounced the abuse of judicial procedures by Turkish authorities to restrict civil society activism and silence human rights defenders, NGOs, and lawyers.
Finally, Ms Mijatović is concerned about “the visible rise in hateful rhetoric and the propagation of homophobic narratives by some politicians and opinion-makers in Turkey”, as well as “impunity for transphobic hate crimes”.
She further called on “authorities to reverse these negative trends and ensure effective protection of the human rights of LGBTI people in Turkey”.
Link to the Commissioner’s letter: https://bit.ly/3gW3HnW (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)