KHRP Submission on Turkey to CESCR Pre-Sessional Working Group
KHRP today submitted a report outlining a list of issues that it believes warrant urgent consideration by the Pre-Sessional Working Group to the 44th Session of the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). These are in respect of Turkey’s continued failure to sufficiently meet its obligations under the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Read more
KHRP – NGO SHADOW REPORT FOR THE REVIEW OF THE SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC UNDER THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE (CAT)
Submitted by Kurdish Human Rights Project
April 2010
Kurdish Human Rights Project
11 Guilford Street
LondonWC1N 1DH
KURDISH HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT
INTRODUCTION
1. This report is not a comprehensive analysis of torture in Syria. Rather it focuses upon cases of mistreatment of Kurdish people in Syria which undermine the submissions made in the Initial Report submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic in July 2009. Syrian Kurds are stateless peoples who continue to be targeted by the Syrian authorities and subjected to ill treatment, characteristically in the form of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, extrajudicial killings, disappearances, as well as torture and deaths in custody.
2. In respect of Syria’s implementation of the Convention against Torture, KHRP advances three principal submissions: (1) Syrian law must criminalise the offence of torture; (2) Syria must properly enforce legislation aimed at preventing and punishing acts of torture; and (3) Syria must properly investigate allegations of torture against Syrian Kurds and, where torture is established to have occurred, provide appropriate redress. KHRP would like to thank International Support Kurds in Syria (SKS) for its assistance in the compilation of this report.
The report is available to download here
All reports re available here: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/cats44.htm
Response of the Kurdish Human Rights Project to United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office Annual Report on Human Rights 2009
Last Thursday 18 March 2010, the United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) released its Annual Report on Human Rights 2009.The report provides a round-up of the UK government’s activities and policies to address the principal human rights challenges that it has identified from around the world, including those in KHRP’s project countries, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the Caucuses.
KHRP largely welcomes the overview provided, which reiterates a variety of the concerns that KHRP continues to address across the Kurdish regions. In particular, it was pleased to see that KHRP’s concerns about the rights of Syria’s estimated 1.7 million Kurds who suffer ongoing discrimination, (including 300,000 of whom continue to be denied citizenship), lack of political representation, and repression of their identities, was given a detailed appraisal in the Report. KHRP also joins the UK FCO in applauding the Turkish government’s self-termed Democratic Opening, (though it has concerns about how open and transparent this initiative is). KHRP is however uneasy about the degree to which the continued pervasiveness of human rights violations in the Kurdish regions of Turkey and Iran are not fully reflected. Read more
KHRP Publish Children’s Rights Report and Manual on Human Rights Complaints
KHRP is pleased to announce the publication of its report on children’s rights and its new manual on how to take human rights complaints to the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the European Parliament and the Council of Europe.
The fact-finding mission and research report, entitled The Situation of Kurdish Children in Turkey, seeks to provide a comprehensive account of the hardship faced by Kurdish children in Turkey. Combining desk and field-based research, this report incorporates the findings of its 2008 mission to Diyarbak?r, Cizre and Istanbul with those resulting from the follow-up mission that took place last October. Investigations revealed that Kurdish children face considerable barriers and disadvantages relative to their Turkish counterparts. This was most keenly identified with regard to the treatment of Kurdish children in the juvenile justice system, with those living in the Kurdish regions receiving far less protection. This has become particularly acute given the application of new anti-terror legislation that has been used to criminalise children. The report concludes with some recommendations for the EU and concerned national governments and organisations aimed at ensuring Turkey complies with its international obligations concerning children’s rights. Read more
KHRP Calls for Immediate Enquiry into Killing of Civilians in Syria
Kurdish Human Rights Project condemns the indiscriminate killing of Kurdish civilians by Syrian security forces at the Newroz festival in al-Raqqa, Syria.
Yesterday three people were shot dead and more than 41 were injured when Syrian security forces opened fire on crowds celebrating the Newroz festival. Eyewitnesses have also reported that many of the wounded have been arbitrarily detained. Others who are seriously wounded are being treated in their own homes for fear of being arrested in the state hospital.
In the evening Kurdish revellers went to celebrate their New Year in the Kurdish area of al-Raqqa. A reported fifteen minutes into the festivities Ba’ath Party members arrived waving Syrian flags and photos of the President. According to reports from the ground, the Syrian security forces shot live ammunition rounds at the crowd and sprayed them with tear gas. Other members of the security forces were on stand-by near the area. Mohammed Omar Haider was said to have died last night in hospital due to his injuries. A young man and a 15-year-old Kurdish girl were also believed to have been killed. Their bodies were taken away by security officials and their names have not been released. People who have visited the hospitals to enquire after family members have been arrested.
KHRP very strongly condemns the Syrian State for its flagrant disregard of international norms in the killing of its civilians. We call for those who were injured to be given appropriate treatment for their injuries without fear of arrest and that those who were arbitrarily detained are immediately released. KHRP demands an immediate investigation into the events in al-Raqqa to be undertaken by a neutral authority, in order that those responsible are held accountable.
KHRP Chief Executive, Kerim Yildiz today stated, ‘KHRP is very concerned to hear reports of such extreme and indiscriminate force being unleashed on unarmed civilians. The use of such lethal force is a grave violation of their right to assembly and an unacceptable abuse of state authority. Such irresponsible violence should be utterly condemned and those responsible for abuses should be brought to justice.’
http://www.khrp.org/content/view/541/2/
Sixth Annual EUTCC Conference Concludes at the European Parliament
The EU-Turkey Civic Commission’s (EUTCC) Sixth International Conference on the EU, Turkey and the Kurds has concluded at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Because of the overseas travel ban imposed against members of the now defunct pro-Kurdish Demokratik Toplum Partisi (Democratic Society Party, DTP), the third and final session of the conference— entitled ‘Possible Roadmap for the Kurdish Resolution and Role of the EU’— was opened with a written message that was read out by EUTCC board member Mr. Hans Branscheidt, on behalf of Diyarbakir Mayor, Osman Baydemir. Baydemir vowed that despite the recent arrests and widespread detention of mayors in the south-east of Turkey, the non-violent civilian struggle for an honourable peace will continue and affirmed that peace is not only possible, but that it will prevail. Read more
KHRP Dismayed by Turkey’s Latest Party Closure Case
KHRP is deeply dismayed at today’s Constitutional Court ruling to close the Demokratik Toplum Partisi (Democratic Society Party, DTP)—the first pro-Kurdish party in the Turkish parliament in 14 years.
This decision has imposed on 37 members of the DTP, a five-year ban from politics and may pave the way for a wave of prosecutions against its members following the lifting of their Parliamentary immunity.
Politicians and parties representing the Kurds and Kurdish aspirations have faced systematic persecution in Turkey. Every party that has sought to articulate Kurdish concerns in a peaceful, democratic forum has contended with efforts by the establishment to restrict their activities, threaten their members and ultimately disband the party. This has included, among others, The People’s Labour Party (HEP), the Freedom and Democracy Party (ÖZDEP), Democratic Party (DEP), and pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HADEP). Read more
