To the attention of Mr. Abdullah Gül, President of the Turkish Republic, and Mr. Recep Tayyip, Prime Minister
CC:
Mr. Sadullah Ergin
Minister of Justice
Mr. Beşir Atalay
Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for Human Rights and the fight against terrorism
Mr. Erdogan Iscan
Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Your Excellency,
On October 17 and 18, 2012, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) considered the initial report of Turkey. On this occasion, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT), submitted its mission report “Turkey: Human Rights defenders: guilty until proven innocent”, which provides information on the global situation of human rights defenders in Turkey.
After two days of constructive dialogue with the Turkish Delegation, the HRC adopted concluding observations whereby it expressed serious concerns over a number of issues, a number of which are related to and/or affect the situation of human rights defenders in the country.
In its concluding observations, the Committee largely referred to the abuse of the legal framework on the fight against terrorism to criminalise legitimate and peaceful activities protected under international human rights standards, including human rights activities.
More precisely, the HRC denounced the non-conformity of several provisions of the 1991 Anti-Terrorism Law with the rights guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), expressing its particular concern at “the high number of cases in which human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists [...] are charged under the Anti-Terrorism Law for the free expression of their opinions and ideas, in particular in the context of non-violent discussions of the Kurdish issues”. Thus, measures should be taken to “ensure that its counter-terrorism legislation and practices are in full conformity with the Covenant”, particularly by remedying “the vagueness of the definition of a terrorist act in the [legislation] to ensure that its application is limited to offences that are indisputably terrorist offences” [1]. The Observatory, the Human Rights Association and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey recall that this echoes the findings and recommendations put forward by both the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions following their respective visits in Turkey in 2006 [2], and urge you to put the Anti-Terrorism Law in line with the international obligations of Turkey.
The HRC also pointed out the “widespread use of lengthy pre-trial detention of up to ten years for terrorism-related offences and five years for other offences”, further highlighting that “detainees do not have access to an effective mechanism to challenge the lawfulness of their pre-trial detention, and do not always in practice have prompt access to a lawyer”. The HRC thus recommended that the “legal period of pre-trial detention [be reduced] in compliance with article 9 of the Covenant” and be “only used as an exceptional measure”. In addition, detainees should have access to a lawyer, be able to challenge the conditions of their pre-trial detention, and the Turkish State should “enhance the use of alternative measures to pre-trial detention, such as electronic monitoring and conditional release” [3]. The Observatory, the Human Rights Association and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey share these concerns and calls on Turkey to reform the law to limit the resort to pre trial detention, in particular ensure that human rights defenders are not subjected to pre-trial detention for their legitimate human rights activities, and more generally to take all necessary measures to end all forms of harassment – including at the judicial level – against human rights defenders.
Among other human rights restrictions that have been occasioned in the framework of the fight against terrorism, the HRC also highlighted “the vagueness and lack of clarity of the definition of “illegal organisations” resulting in “restricting the right to freedom of association”. In order to ensure that this basic right, guaranteed under article 22 of the Covenant, is fully respected, the Committee stated that the notion of “illegal organisations” should be strictly limited [4].
More generally, the HRC finally expressed its concern about the ongoing trend that consists in making an abusive and arbitrary use of multiple provisions of the Criminal Code, including defamation, to subject “human rights defenders and media professionals to convictions for the exercise of their profession”, putting at risk freedom of expression. Among other recommendations, the HRC stressed that measures should be taken to decriminalise defamation, “provide redress to journalists and human rights activists who are subjected to criminal prosecution and imprisonment” [5].
The Observatory, the Human Rights Association and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey share the concerns expressed by the HRC and call on the Turkish authorities to take measures aimed at implementing the recommendations without undue delay.
Actions should be taken to ensure that the respect of human rights defenders’ rights effectively guides the operation of law-enforcement and judicial bodies, that the safety of human rights defenders is guaranteed, that the rights to freedom of expression and of association are fully respected, and that human rights defenders are not subjected to any form of harassment.
Your Excellency,
The UN Human Rights Committee review is an occasion for Turkey to prove that it stands by its international commitment to comply with its international human rights obligations. The Observatory, the Human Rights Association and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey call on the Turkish authorities to seize this opportunity to take action by releasing all those who are arbitrarily detained for the peaceful use of their fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly, by trying without delay or release all human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers in pre-trial detention under the Anti-Terrorism Law, by reforming its legislation and by taking any other action necessary to bring its law and practice in line with international standards.
We express our sincere hope that you will take these considerations and requests into account.
Yours sincerely,
Metin Bakkalcı, TİHV Secretary General
Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President
Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General
Öztürk Türkdoğan, İHD President