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Kurdish Human Rights Project Nominated for National Award |
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We are delighted to announce the organisation’s nomination for a major national prize at The Charity Awards 2010, the UK charity sector’s most prestigious award scheme. It has been nominated in the International Aid and Development Category.
KHRP is hoping to pick up the coveted award at a star-studded awards ceremony in London on 10 June hosted by comedienne Jo Brand and attended by celebrities including Greta Scacchi, Lynda Bellingham, Jon Snow and Peter Bowles.
The Charity Award judges recognised KHRP for the tireless work it does helping to bring perpetrators of human rights abuse in the Kurdish regions to justice. If it wins its category the charity will also be in the running to pick up the Overall Award for Excellence in Charity Management – a prestigious award given to the best of the 10 category winners.
The annual Charity Awards ceremony, sponsored by the Charities Aid Foundation, The Leadership Trust and The Times, is the most high-profile event in the charity calendar. Since launching over ten years ago, the awards have honoured hundreds of charities, large and small, from across the UK, acknowledging their outstanding work and achievements and the tireless commitment of the people behind them. The charities, which submit their own entries, are each shortlisted for specific initiatives which have improved the delivery of their charitable objectives and which demonstrate outstanding examples of best practice from which other charities can learn.
The Charity Awards 2010 is organised by Charity Finance, the leading business publication for the voluntary sector. The distinguished panel of judges includes John Low CBE, Chief Executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, Maeve Sherlock OBE, former Chief Executive of the Refugee Council, Dame Jo Williams, former Chief Executive of Mencap, Paul Winter, Chief Executive of The Leadership Trust, and Dame Mary Marsh, founding Director of the Clore Social Leadership Programme and former Chief Executive of the NSPCC.
Daniel Phelan, organiser of the Charity Awards 2010 comments:
‘The Charity Awards recognise and reward the fantastic work that takes place within the voluntary sector right across the UK and beyond. It’s so important that we acknowledge the achievements of voluntary organisations because it applauds the people who are least likely to expect any recognition but most likely deserve it.
Over the years, many wonderful charities, large and small, have been recognised by the Charity Awards, highlighting the major and selfless contribution they make to society and the huge effort and commitment that goes into making them work. By being short-listed, The Kurdish Human Rights Project has already demonstrated that it is amongst the best-managed charities in the UK. I wish everyone involved the best of luck on the night.’
For more information on the awards, please visit the Charity Awards 2010.
  
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Cancellation of KHRP Events on Rule of Law, Freedom of Expression and Human Rights Defenders |
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KHRP is disappointed to announce the cancellation of this week’s series of events on the Rule of Law, Freedom of Expression and Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in Turkey due to ongoing disruptions to European travel.
From today through to Thursday 22 April 2010, KHRP was due to host a series of events around the visit of Rehşan Bataray Saman, a board member of İnsan Hakları Derneği (the Human Rights Association of Turkey, İHD) Diyarbakır Branch, the oldest national human rights NGO in Turkey and a longstanding KHRP partner organisation. Unfortunately due to the unforeseen closure of UK airspace and the ongoing cancellation of flights resulting from the Icelandic cloud of volcanic ash across Europe, Ms Saman is now unable to travel to the UK to take part in the events.
Ms Saman was due to visit the UK on behalf of Mr Muharrem Erbey, Chairman of İHD’s Diyarbakır Branch. Mr Erbey — who is currently being held in Diyarbakır D-Type prison awaiting trial — was one of more than 80 people detained as part of an anti-terror operation launched simultaneously in 11 provinces of Turkey in the early hours of Christmas Eve 2009.
He is just one of many lawyers, journalists, politicians and writers whom KHRP believes have been detained and criminalised by the authorities for their work on human rights and minority issues in Turkey, which KHRP sought to examine and stimulate discussion on during the events.
List of cancelled KHRP events:
• KHRP Drinks Reception, Monday 19 April
• Panel Discussion on Freedom of Expression & the Media,
hosted in conjunction with Article 19, Index on Censorship, English PEN, and the Free Word Centre, Tuesday 20 April
• Seminar on Rule of Law in Turkey, hosted in conjunction with 25 Bedford Row Chambers, Wednesday 21 April
• Seminar on Human Rights Defenders in Turkey, hosted in conjunction with Tooks Chambers, the Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales (BHRC) & the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, Thursday 22 April
KHRP will send out updates about future events in due course. Please also check the KHRP website for the latest information. |
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KHRP Condemns Turkey’s Ejection of EU Turkey Civic Commission Chair |
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On Saturday 24 April, Kariane Westrheim, Chair of the EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC), was stopped by authorities at the airport in Istanbul before being officially deported and placed on a return flight to Scandinavia. Westrheim, an Associate Professor at the University of Bergen had been en route to speak at a conference on women’s rights in Diyarbakir, and to conduct fieldwork with support of University of Bergen about education in areas of war and political conflict. The treatment of Ms. Westrheim, who has published significant works on the Kurdish issue, appeared to be politically motivated. She asserted that the Turkish authorities had accused her of “supporting separatists” and being “very critical toward Turkish politics”, and had assured her that she would never be allowed to enter Turkey again.
KHRP Managing Director Rachel Bernu denounced the decision saying, ‘Unfortunately, Turkey still seems confused about what its commitment to free expression actually means. So, let us be clear. When Turkey does not allow foreigners who criticize its policies into the country, it is in violation. By arresting, detaining and imprisoning its own citizens who are critical, it is again in violation. If Turkey is truly committed to the principle of freedom of expression, it must find a way to ensure this commitment filters down to its security and judicial apparatus.’
The EU Turkey Civic Commission, of which KHRP is a founding member, was established following a conference in 2004 on ‘The EU, Turkey and the Kurds’. Other founding members are the Bar Human Rights Association of England and Wales, Medico International and The Thorolf Rafto Foundation.
Five further conferences have been held subsequently at the European Parliament in Brussels, the most recent of which convened in February 2010. The Commission is supportive of Turkish accession to the EU under compliance with the Copenhagen membership criteria. Accordingly, the work of the EUTCC regularly involves monitoring and disseminating information pertaining to Turkish compliance with the Copenhagen criteria.
The Turkish authorities are yet to issue comment on the matter.
For more information on the EUTCC, please visit the website here. |
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Next Week's KHRP Events on Rule of Law, Freedom of Expression and Human Rights Defenders |
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From Monday 19 through to Thursday 22 April 2010, KHRP will host a series of events on the topic of Rule of Law, Freedom of Expression and Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in Turkey. The events are being organised around the visit of Rehşan Bataray Saman, a board member of İnsan Hakları Derneği (the Human Rights Association of Turkey, İHD) Diyarbakır Branch, a longstanding partner organisation of the KHRP.
Despite the Turkish government’s launch of a ‘democratic initiative’ designed to solve the Kurdish conflict through peaceful dialogue, Turkey has fallen backwards into a state of uncertainty and unrest that has not been seen for many years.
Ms Saman will be here on behalf of Mr Muharrem Chairman of İHD’s Diyarbakır Branch, who is currently being held in Diyarbakır D-Type prison awaiting trial. Mr Muharrem was one of more than 80 people detained as part of an anti-terror operation launched simultaneously in 11 provinces of Turkey in the early hours of Christmas Eve 2009. The stated reason for Mr Erbey’s detention was his alleged membership of a terrorist organisation. Evidence of such membership is scant and is based on speeches Mr Erbey made in the Europe about the human rights situation for Kurds in Turkey, as well as because of his work as a lawyer. Case files of İHD’s work before the European Court of Human Rights were confiscated, and raids on İHD offices continued into the spring. İHD is the oldest national human rights NGO in Turkey.
Please come and join us next week for what promises to be a succession of interesting and though-provoking debates.
KHRP’s April 2010 Event’s Summary:
- KHRP Drinks Reception, Monday 19 April
- Panel Discussion on Freedom of Expression & the Media, hosted in conjunction with Article 19, Index on Censorship, English PEN, and the Free Word Centre, Tuesday 20 April
- Seminar on Rule of Law in Turkey, hosted in conjunction with 25 Bedford Row Chambers, Wednesday 21 April
- Seminar on Human Rights Defenders in Turkey, hosted in conjunction with Tooks Chambers, the Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales (BHRC) & the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, Thursday 22 April
The above events will feature among others, Rehşan Saman, İHD board member and HRD, John Kampfner, Director of Index on Censorship, and Maureen Freely, Journalist, Novelist and Academic, as well UK exiles Koray Düzgören, former KHRP applicant and renowned Turkish journalist and broadcaster, and Doğan Genç, prominent Kurdish HRD and former İHD Executive.
KHRP’s full programme of events is available to download here. Further information will be made available from the KHRP website.
‘Since last Christmas, we have witnessed violent clashes between civilians and security forces and the increasing use of anti-terror legislation to criminalise pro-Kurdish human rights advocates, including, lawyers, journalists, politicians and writers, as well as children, in violation of numerous principles of international human rights law’, said KHRP Chief Executive Kerim Yildiz. ‘KHRP remains gravely concerned about the developing human rights situation and next week’s programme seeks to raise awareness and to help examine and foster discussion around the dramatic increase in the arrest and detention of HRDs — particularly Kurds — working on minority issues and anti-terror cases in Turkey.’ |
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KHRP is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of ‘The Kurdish Conflict: International Humanitarian Law and Post-Conflict Mechanisms’ by Routledge next Monday 21 June 2010.