Background and objectives

At the invitation of the Government of Turkey, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Reem Alsalem, will conduct an official visit to the country from 18 to 27 July 2022.

Country visits are undertaken following an invitation by the Government and are prepared and conducted in the spirit of cooperation and dialogue with the State concerned. The objective of the country visit is for the Special Rapporteur to gain a first-hand understanding of issues related to her mandate, in particular, in relation to measures taken to prevent, combat and eliminate violence against women and girls, and to provide redress for victims. Following a country visit, the Special Rapporteur presents a report at the UN Human Rights Council with her findings, conclusions and recommendations to the State concerned. The conclusions and recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur are a useful tool for States to improve measures to prevent and eliminate violence against women. They can also serve as a good roadmap for other stakeholders working on gender based violence issues in the country, such as civil society, victims and victim organizations, as well as UN organizations.

The Special Rapporteur will begin the visit in Ankara followed by Istanbul and will also undertake field visits to both urban and rural areas in different regions that represent Turkey’s diverse population, to gain first-hand understanding of issues related to violence against women and girls as experienced by various segments of the population. During her visit, and as a means of gathering information from all relevant stakeholders, she intends to convene meetings with Government officials; representatives from non-governmental and civil society organizations; the private sector at the national and local level, including community-based groups and individuals; as well as with relevant international agencies working on women’s rights and the elimination of violence against women and girls.

At the end of the visit on 27 July 2022, the Special Rapporteur will debrief relevant Government officials on her preliminary findings, and in line with established practice, she will also hold a press conference in order to share the preliminary findings with the broader public. Additional information on the venue and time of the press conference will be shared prior to the visit.

Key questions and types of input sought

In preparation for the visit, the Special Rapporteur invites all interested individuals and organizations, including civil society organizations, women’s rights activists, and academics, to provide inputs on:

1. Issues related to violence against women and girls, including its different manifestations;
2. Information on groups of women and girls particularly vulnerable to gender based violence;
3. Any policies in place to prevent and combat violence against women and girls.

While all submissions are welcome, and the topics highlighted below are not exhaustive, the Special Rapporteur is particularly interested in receiving information on the following:

• Legal, institutional and policy frameworks related to violence against women and girls, including on domestic violence;
• Adherence to international and regional human rights frameworks on women’s rights and the elimination of violence against women;
• Efforts to prevent femicide, particularly with respect to protection measures, data collection and prevention strategies;
• Violence against women of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity or expression;
• Online violence against women, particularly women human rights defenders and women journalists and women politicians
• Violence against women and girls that may be nationals of Turkey, stateless persons, refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Turkey;
• Sexual exploitation and trafficking of Turkish and foreign women and girls, including access by victims to essential services;
• The correlation between climate change, environmental degradation and gender-based violence against women and girls;
• Gender stereotyping and biases in judicial processes, including in sexual violence and child custody cases;
• Women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights;
• Coordination of essential services, including shelters, one stop service centres; protection orders and other integrated services for victims of gender-based violence against women and girls;
• Capacity of the different institutions to prevent, detect, monitor and respond to situations of violence against women and girls, including capacity building initiatives.