Turkey Implementation Training with ETKINIZ - May 2021
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Last week, EIN and ETKİNİZ hosted a 3-day training workshop on advocating for full and effective implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Turkey. ETKİNİZ is a European Union Programme that offers Civil Society Organisations capacity-building support to monitor human rights practices and engage in advocacy.
The first session was introduced and moderated by Prof. Dr Başak Çalı, EIN Chair, Professor of International Law, Director of the Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School. This was followed by a four presentations on the functioning of the implementation process. Each of the presentations were accompanied by a question-and-answer session in order for participants to deepen their understanding of the implementation process.
The first discussion of the day provided participants with an overview of the ECtHR implementation process. Ayse Bingol, Co-Director of the Turkey Litigation Support Project, discussed how NGOs can get involved in the ECtHR implementation process. Ms. Bingol specifically outlined the importance of engaging with the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers (CM) and what to include in submissions to the CM. Next, Prof. Dr Başak Çalı presented best practices for CM submissions and discussed the shortcomings related to prior experiences in making submissions. The session concluded with George Stafford, EIN Director, who discussed infringement proceedings under Article 46 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The second day of training focused on Turkish NGOs and the experience of Turkish human rights lawyers with engaging in ECtHR implementation. The session was introduced and moderated by Ayse Bingol, who introduced three brief presentations. The first was by Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey Director of Human Rights Watch, who focused on CM submissions as an advocacy tool. Next, Özlem Zingil from Hafiza Merkezi Turkey (Truth Justice Memory Center) talked about the activities of her organisation in impunity and disappearance cases, including the importance of making submissions to the Council of Europe and in forming alliances with other organisations at the national level. The final presentation was made by Benan Molu, an independent human rights lawyer, addressing the need for more lawyers to be involved in the implementation process. These presentations gave participants valuable information on ECtHR implementation and lessons learned thus far by those involved in the process. The session concluded with a roundtable discussion on opportunities and challenges in implementing ECtHR judgments in Turkey in particular.
George Stafford introduced and moderated the final training session, which focused on practical discussions in selected cases. This last day of training took the form of three breakout sessions, allowing participants to discuss how they would approach specific ECtHR judgments pending implementation in Turkey. The cases selected concerned the absence of any review mechanism in Turkish legislation for an aggravated life imprisonment sentence (Gurban v. Turkey group); freedom of expression on account of the seizure and confiscation of magazines considered to infringe on public morals (Kaos GL v. Turkey); and the authorities’ failure to comply with principles of the Hague Convention in international child abduction cases (Ozmen v. Turkey group).
The session concluded with presentations from each breakout group explaining their approach to tackling the implementation process of their case. This allowed participants to apply the knowledge gained in all three days of training.
We thank all moderators and participants for attending the training session, especially ETKİNİZ for supporting this training event, as well as the excellent interpreters.
EIN and Netherlands Helsinki Committee are hosting another Turkey training session in June/July if you missed this event. More information about the training session here.