The Human Rights Association (IHD) Amed (tr: Diyarbakır) Branch Women’s Commission announced the 1-year report on rights violations against women in the Kurdish region.
Branch board member Esra Saçaklıdır, who read the report on behalf of IHD, stated that violence against women is not only physical, but also psychological, sexual, economic, social and class violence.
Esra Saçaklıdır pointed out that domestic violence is seen as ‘domestic issues’ by society and the state and ignored, and that the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention and the discussions on the abolition of Law No. 6284 have deepened gender inequality.
As a result of the unresolved Kurdish issue, the government’s unlawful arrests of Kurdish women politicians and activists and their oppression in judicial processes are another form of violence against women, she underlined.
Esra Saçaklıdır remarked that the usurpation of DEM Party municipalities by government-appointed state officials was also effective in the increase in violence. She also drew attention to the torture and violence experienced by imprisoned women.
After the statement, lawyer Berfin Elçi listed the violations. According to the report, the provinces where women’s right to life was violated the most were Urfa (21), Amed (16), Mardin (13), Van (10) and Antep (10).
The report includes the following data:
‘* At least 39 women lost their lives under suspicious circumstances.
* At least 7 women were driven to suicide and ended their lives.
* At least 49 women lost their lives and at least 12 others were injured as a result of domestic violence.
*At least 19 women lost their lives and at least 16 others were injured as a result of violence in the social sphere and at least 1 woman was subjected to sexual abuse.
* In Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, at least 68 women were murdered as a result of male violence in the domestic and social sphere and 7 women were driven to suicide.
* In total, at least 114 women’s right to life was violated in a year.
* At least 57 women were murdered or found dead “at home”, supposedly the safest place.
* Women were mostly murdered by their fathers, sons and married partners.
* Women were mostly murdered because they wanted to get divorced or because they had an argument about something. Some women were killed in their sleep, and some were killed by their relatives just because they did not bring water.
Source: ANF News