Helping civil society organisation monitor human rights

The Etkiniz programme , which began in 2012 and will run until 2015, is designed to build the capacity of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Turkey in carrying out their monitoring and advocacy activities.

Hundreds of CSOs supported

Etkiniz has submitted more than 400 requests for support to hundreds of different CSOs working in different areas of human rights all over Türkiye. The support provided has included studies of different human rights issues, such as disabled rights, children’s rights, the right to health, women’s rights, freedom of the press and people’s access to education in their mother tongue. These activities have contributed to the important developments that have taken place in human rights monitoring and advocacy studies in Türkiye.

Delivery of 73 training events for 1,405 participants

The Etkiniz technical assistance team has successfully delivered many training events and dialogue opportunities. These have included 73 training programmes covering different issues, such as human rights monitoring (HRM) and advocacy, children’s rights monitoring and international human rights mechanisms, involving 1,405 participants from different CSOs.

Bringing international experts and activists together

Etkiniz has conducted a total of 24 webinars (14 national with 1,152 participants and 10 international with 2126 participants). The programme will continue to organise training and webinars on HRM.

A major human rights monitoring archive created

Etkiniz set up the Online Resource Hub (ORH) to act as a meeting point and melting pot for HRM in Türkiye, providing access to reports and documents about existing and upcoming HRM activities by CSOs and serving as a reference library offering tools and resources.

Visit http://insanhaklariizleme.org/ for more information.

Improving access to UN international human rights monitoring mechanisms

Etkiniz also helps CSOs access international human right mechanisms, such as the European Council and the European Court of Human Rights.  Etkiniz has helped CSOs prepare around 100 reports for submission to international human right mechanisms.

The programme  organised for 25 CSOs from Türkiye to visit Geneva in late September 2022 to participate in the pre-session of the UNCRC. During the pre-session a representative from the Purple Roof Women Shelters Foundation was able to engage with the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families – this was the only CSO from Turkey in Geneva, which was very inspiring because most women’s rights organisations have only engaged with CEDAW.

E-learning module developed

Etkiniz has set up an e-learning platform where CSO representatives can receive training at their own pace, receiving a certificate after finishing all three modules. The portal currently has 2,278 registered users.