The Turkish anti-terrorism law approved by the Grand National Assembly in December 2020 has “far-reaching consequences for basic human rights, in particular freedom of association and expression and the right to a fair trial”, says the Venice Commission in an Opinion published yesterday.
Focused on preventing the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and amending, among other things, the laws on aid collection and associations, this legislation is worrying in several respects: lack of transparency in the assessment of risks linked to NGOs, possible dismissal of members of the board of directors of an association and their replacement without consultation with the members of the association, risks of disproportionate sanctions for failure to comply with audit obligations, exaggerated power of investigators with regard to the right to privacy.
Moreover, the Council of Europe’s constitutional law experts point out, the law was adopted in a hurry, without any consultation with civil society and stakeholders, which is “problematic from a democratic perspective”.
This Opinion was requested from the Venice Commission by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Link to the Opinion: https://bit.ly/36ke3Ju (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)