{"id":7544,"date":"2023-03-07T10:19:58","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T08:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ihsda.org\/?p=7544"},"modified":"2023-03-09T11:49:09","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T09:49:09","slug":"33-sivil-toplum-kurulusu-ve-barodan-avrupa-konseyi-bakanlar-komitesine-turkiyede-agir-tehdit-altinda-olan-bariscil-toplanma-ozgurlugu-hakkina-dair-kapsamli-bir-bildirim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ihsda.org\/en\/2023\/03\/07\/33-sivil-toplum-kurulusu-ve-barodan-avrupa-konseyi-bakanlar-komitesine-turkiyede-agir-tehdit-altinda-olan-bariscil-toplanma-ozgurlugu-hakkina-dair-kapsamli-bir-bildirim\/","title":{"rendered":"Comprehensive Rule 9.2 submission from 33 non-governmental organizations and local bar associations to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the serious restrictions placed on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in T\u00fcrkiye"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

26 international and T\u00fcrkiye-based non-governmental organizations, including the Solidarity Network for Human Rights Defenders, and 7 bar associations in the country presented a Rule 9.2 communication <\/a>regarding the execution of the European Court of Human Rights\u2019 Oya Atam<\/a>an Group judgments. The cases concern the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in T\u00fcrkiye and are under the judgment execution supervision of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers. The Committee will evaluate the joint submission of the non-governmental organisations and bar associations together with the recent action plan<\/a> by T\u00fcrkiye in its meeting on 7-9 March 2023. The submission draws attention to the importance of the Committee’s role in monitoring the implementation of the relevant judgments and formulates the general measures that T\u00fcrkiye must take to comply with the Court’s case-law and international human rights standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oya Ataman group consists of 74 cases addressing important legal, social and political issues in T\u00fcrkiye related to the right to peaceful assembly and association guaranteed under Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the right to life (article 2), the prohibition of torture (article 3), the right to liberty and security (article 5), the right to freedom of expression (article 10) and the right to an effective remedy (article 13). Although the Committee of Ministers closed 64 of these cases “without prejudice to the continuing need for general measures”, the joint submission underlines that there are growing and serious shortcomings in domestic legislation and in the judicial and administrative practice of the Turkish authorities. The communication sets out a number of general measures necessary for the full implementation of the case-law of the ECtHR on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in T\u00fcrkiye and requests the Committee to ensure their adoption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The non-governmental organisations and bar associations underline that, in the light of the reports of non-governmental organizations and official statistics, the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly has seriously deteriorated in T\u00fcrkiye, especially in the period following the 2016 coup attempt. Accordingly, the practices of the Turkish authorities such as systematically declaring meetings, demonstrations, and marches \u201cillegal\u201d by imposing general or specific prohibitions; the inappropriate and disproportionate use of force in police interventions and detentions in peaceful gatherings as well as impunity for police officers who bear responsibility; and the exposing of demonstrators and participants to administrative fines and judicial sanctions increased even after the lifting of the state of emergency in 2018. According to non-governmental organizations and bar associations, especially women’s rights groups, those based in the regions with a high Kurdish population, LGBTI+ groups, and workers are among those most exposed to these serious and systematic rights violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The submission contests the government\u2019s claims in its action plan <\/a>of 8 July 2022 and argues that the current legal framework and practice in T\u00fcrkiye largely do not meet the Convention standards. According to the non-governmental organisations and bar associations, the Turkish government does not effectively address the ECtHR’s findings in the Oya Ataman group judgments and the requests of the Committee of Ministers as part of its judgment execution supervision process, and it generally does not take necessary measures to strengthen the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. They further reiterate that the systematic prevention of the exercise of this fundamental right in T\u00fcrkiye is seriously deteriorating. Considering the essential role freedom of peaceful assembly plays in the protection of democracy and pluralism, the Committee of Ministers should urgently adopt a strong and resolute approach in its supervision of the execution of the Court\u2019s judgments in the Oya Ataman group, especially in the wake of the upcoming Presidential elections in mid-2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After providing a comprehensive picture -supported by evidence and examples- that the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly is essentially impossible in T\u00fcrkiye due to the systematic interventions in the right by the Turkish authorities, the non-governmental organizations and bar associations invite the Committee of Ministers to ensure following its 7-9 March 2023 meetings that the Oya Ataman group cases remain under the enhanced procedure and are reviewed regularly in the Committee\u2019s quarterly Human Rights meetings and call on T\u00fcrkiye to take the following general measures:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Review its the Action Plan and fully address the structural problems identified by the ECtHR in the Oya Ataman group and stemming from domestic legislation;<\/li>
  2. Amend Law No. 2911 to ensure that its provisions are fully in line with the principles set out in the case law of the ECtHR;<\/li>
  3. Amend Law No. 5442 to ensure that its provisions are fully in line with the principles set out in the case law of the ECtHR; in particular, amend Article 11(C) which grants broad powers to governors to ban both peaceful public assemblies and indoor human rights events,<\/li>
  4. Review the 2016 Directive on the use of tear gas and other crowd control weapons to ensure that it complies in all respects with international standards in relation to the use of crowd control weapons and to make use of the international expertise which could be made available through the Council of Europe;<\/li>
  5. Urge T\u00fcrkiye to put in place an effective ex post facto<\/em> review mechanism to assess the reasonableness and proportionality of any use of excessive force by law enforcement officials;<\/li>
  6. Call on T\u00fcrkiye to stop the criminalization of the members of civil society who exercise their right to freedom of peaceful assembly;<\/li>
  7. Call on T\u00fcrkiye to pursue a clear and detailed strategy to prevent violations of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly;<\/li>
  8. Urge T\u00fcrkiye to carry out an effective overview of the in-service training programmes for law enforcement officials on human rights, proportionate use of force, intervention against public events, and use of tear gas;<\/li>
  9. Request T\u00fcrkiye to provide detailed information on administrative bans imposed on assemblies and demonstrations (including information on the locations, the authorities who ordered, dates, their scope and durations), on interventions by law enforcement officers to disperse demonstrations and meetings, and on assemblies and demonstrations that were allowed to take place without police intervention although they failed to comply with the requirements of the Law No. 2911, as well as the number of criminal and administrative prosecutions and convictions linked to breaches of Law No. 2911;<\/li>
  10. Request T\u00fcrkiye to provide detailed information on the criminal investigations and proceedings initiated against law enforcement officers accused of using excessive force to disperse meetings and demonstrations (including information on the numbers of prosecutions, convictions, and acquittals, the type of offences and sentences).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The English version of the notification here<\/a>, and the Turkish version here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Non-governmental organizations and bar associations that made the joint submission include several members of the Solidarity Network for Human Rights and are as follows: Association for Freedom of Expression (\u0130fade \u00d6zg\u00fcrl\u00fc\u011f\u00fc Derne\u011fi), <\/strong>Association of Lawyers for Liberty\/Istanbul Branch (\u00d6zg\u00fcrl\u00fck \u0130\u00e7in Hukuk\u00e7ular Derne\u011fi \u0130stanbul \u015eubesi), Batman Bar Association (Batman Barosu)<\/strong>, Bing\u00f6l Bar Association (Bing\u00f6l Barosu), Civic Space Studies Association (Sivil Alan Ara\u015ft\u0131rmalar\u0131 Derne\u011fi)<\/strong>, Civil Rights Defenders, Dersim Bar Association (Dersim Barosu)<\/strong>, European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights, Foundation for Society and Legal Studies (Toplum ve Hukuk Ara\u015ft\u0131rmalar\u0131 Vakf\u0131)<\/strong>, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (T\u00fcrkiye \u0130nsan Haklar\u0131 Vakf\u0131), Initiative for Freedom of Expression (D\u00fc\u015f\u00fcnce Su\u00e7una Kar\u015f\u0131 Giri\u015fim),<\/strong> International Federation For Human Rights, Lambdaistanbul LGBT Solidarity Association (Lambdaistanbul LGBT\u0130+ Dayan\u0131\u015fma Derne\u011fi)<\/strong>, Kaos GL Association (Kaos GL Derne\u011fi), Life Memory and Freedom Association (Ya\u015fam Bellek \u00d6zg\u00fcrl\u00fck Derne\u011fi),<\/strong> London Legal Group, Mardin Bar Association (Mardin Barosu), Mu\u015f Bar Association (Mu\u015f Barosu)<\/strong>, Progressive Lawyers Association (\u00c7a\u011fda\u015f Hukuk\u00e7ular Derne\u011fi), P24 Independent Journalism Association (P24 Ba\u011f\u0131ms\u0131z Gazetecilik Derne\u011fi),<\/strong> Research Institute on Turkey, Roman Memory Studies Association (Roman Haf\u0131za \u00c7al\u0131\u015fmalar\u0131 Derne\u011fi\/Romani Godi),<\/strong> Social Policies, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (Sosyal Politika, Cinsiyet Kimli\u011fi ve Cinsel Y\u00f6nelim \u00c7al\u0131\u015fmalar\u0131 Derne\u011fi), \u015e\u0131rnak Bar Association (\u015e\u0131rnak Barosu), <\/strong>Truth Justice and Memory Center (Hakikat Adalet Haf\u0131za Merkezi), the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project, <\/strong>University Queer Research and LGBTI+ Solidarity Association (\u00dcniversiteli Kuir Ara\u015ft\u0131rmalar\u0131 ve LGBT\u0130+ Dayan\u0131\u015fma Derne\u011fi), Van Bar Association (Van Barosu) <\/strong>and Human Rights Joint Platform (\u0130nsan Haklar\u0131 Ortak Platformu): Association for Monitoring Equal Rights (E\u015fit Haklar \u0130\u00e7in \u0130zleme Derne\u011fi), <\/strong>Citizens Association (Yurtta\u015fl\u0131k Derne\u011fi), Human Rights Agenda Association (\u0130nsan Haklar\u0131 G\u00fcndemi Derne\u011fi), <\/strong>Human Rights Association (\u0130nsan Haklar\u0131 Derne\u011fi), and Rights Initiative Association (Hak \u0130nisiyatifi Derne\u011fi)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    26 international and T\u00fcrkiye-based non-governmental organizations, including the Solidarity Network for Human Rights Defenders, and 7 bar associations in the country presented a Rule 9.2 communication regarding the execution of the European Court of Human Rights\u2019 Oya Ataman Group judgments. The cases concern the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in T\u00fcrkiye […]<\/p>\n

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