08/01/2024 - 13:04
On May 24, 2024, in Istanbul, we organized the 4th network meeting of the Haklara Destek Program titled “Feminist Struggle against Laws and Prohibitions in Authoritarian Regimes". The meeting, attended by 27 people, brought together women’s right organizations active in the field of women’s humans rights. Two representatives from Algeria and Tunisia also participated, giving us the opportunity to discuss the struggle for women’s rights in three different countries throughout the day.
Hayat Remmache from Algeria and Fatma from Heinrich Böll Stiftung Tunisia contributed to the meeting with their country-specific reports. Haklara Destek organizations Women’s State of Solidarity Association (Dayanışmanın Kadın Hali Derneği), Women’s Time Association (Kadın Zamanı Derneği), Katre Women’s Consultation and Solidarity Association (Katre Kadın Danışma ve Dayanışma Derneği), Kırkayak Culture, Art and Nature Association (Kırkayak Kültür Sanat ve Doğa Derneği), Mardin Joint Women’s Cooperation Association (Mardin Ortak Kadın İşbirliği Derneği), Emancipatory Individuals Association (Özgürlükçü Bireyler Derneği) and Rosa Women’s Association (Rosa Kadın Derneği) also attended the meeting. We Will Stop Femicide Platform, Women’s Solidarity Foundation (Kadınlarla Dayanışma Vakfı), Havle Women’s Association (Havle Kadın Derneği) and Women for Women’s Human Rights (WWHR) also accepted our invitation and contributed to the meeting.
Following the opening speech by Julia Bartmann from Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Zozan Bilge, a field officer from Haklara Destek team, led a short warm-up activity to facilitate individual introductions.
The warm-up activity was followed by a two-hour panel titled “The Role of Laws in Gender Inequality: Examples from Algeria, Tunisia, and Turkey.” Moderated by Balacan Ayar from the Haklara Destek team, this panel featured discussions on the struggle for women’s rights in these three countries. Speakers Fatma and Hayat Remmache, along with Ezel Buse Sönmezocak from WWHR, contributed to the panel.
We began the panel by discussing the political atmosphere in three different countries and how this atmosphere impacts women’s rights and the struggle for women’s rights. It was noted that, in all three countries, political pressure hinders the work of rights defenders and organizations in the field, and the challenges in securing external funding are becoming more pronounced. The difficulties of engaging in activism and advocacy in each country, as well as the frequent use of detentions and arrests as a means of pressure, were also discussed.
Additionally, we discussed the challenges in implementing existing legal guarantees, the scarcity of laws protecting women, and the erosion of acquired rights. The conversation also covered the difficulties women face in accessing legal complaint mechanisms due to various cultural and religious pressures. We examined how laws and prohibitions in different countries affect women’s lives, including their daily activities, divorce processes or ability to divorce, access to healthcare services, and the availability of abortion.
In the final section, we conducted a group exercise with the participants. They were divided into three groups and assigned a different scenario. Each group was tasked with developing solutions to the problems presented. This group work led to various discussions on how to resolve potential conflicts and disagreements that may arise within national, local, or international networks.
We would like to thank all the organizations that participated in the network meeting for their valuable comments and contributions.