New institute for human rights in Turkey 

Denmark is helping Turkey to implement the country’s many new laws on human rights. Among other things, the project includes plans for an independent human rights institute.
With help from Denmark and the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Turkey is now looking into the possibility of establishing an independent Turkish human rights institute based on the European model.

The new institute forms part of a development programme in Turkey under preparation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the assistance of COWI. Expected to cost an estimated DKK 25 million over a three-year period, the programme also includes elements such as assisting the development of non-government organisations (NGOs) and strengthening the state body charged with investigating complaints against the police.

Strong new legislation

During the last two years the development of new Turkish legislation in the area of human rights has made enormous progress, reports COWI project manager Henrik Brade Johansen. But laws and paragraphs are one thing - implementing them is quite another.

"Today, Turkey’s human rights laws are on a par with those of Europe,” says Henrik Brade Johansen. “But in some areas the country still lags in terms of putting these laws into practice. Torture has not yet been eradicated, and full press and organisational freedom is not yet the norm."

Conference

A new human rights institute could help resolve these problems.

In collaboration with the head of the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Morten Kjærum, COWI on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has arranged a major conference in Turkey in December to be attended by participants from ministries, the judicial system, human rights organisations, universities, the UN and directors of other human rights institutes worldwide.

The conference will provide a forum for sharing and gathering experiences and assessing the prospects for a human rights institute in Turkey.

Independent institute

"Today there are almost 900 different human rights committees throughout Turkey, but they are not independent. As in many European countries, the aim of establishing an institute is to create a body that is not controlled by the state," explains Henrik Brade Johansen.

Good neighbour relations

The programme is being implemented under the aegis of The Danish Government's "neighbourhood programmes", which provide support to the EU’s new neighbours on its eastern borders. On 17 December the EU Council of Ministers is to decide whether to open accession negotiations with Turkey.

Published: 30.11.2004
By: Janne Toft Jensen, jaje@cowi.dk