Human Rights in Turkey

In February 2025, the Geneva based NGO UPR-Info conducted its regular Pre-Session in the run up to the 49^th UPR Working Group Session during which 14 states will be reviewed on their current human rights record. The Pre-Sessions provide a space for civil society to highlight the most pressing human rights issues in their respective countries and to engage in a meaningful way with representatives of Permanent Missions in Geneva who will conduct the state review. FES Geneva regularly teams up with local partners from FES country offices to facilitate their engagement in the UPR process. Feray Salman, General Coordinator of the Human Rights Joint Platform (IHOP), participated as part of a larger delegation in the Pre-Session of Turkey, to be reviewed on May, 6. We talked to her on why the UPR is an important part of her work.

Your organizations submitted reports to the review of Turkey in the UPR process and you are now following the different steps in Geneva. Why is the UPR a process relevant to your work?

The UPR is a critical mechanism to make systematic human rights violations in Turkey visible and to increase government accountability. Due to accountability problems in Turkey, such as the closure of state institutions to independent oversight mechanisms, the lack of effective investigation and punishment mechanisms, and the lack of transparency in public administration, international human rights mechanisms are becoming an important tool to push the government to reform. The UPR process provides a powerful lever of pressure to ensure that the state fulfils its international obligations on key issues such as judicial independence, freedom of expression, gender equality, and environmental justice. It is also of great importance in documenting the state's failure to implement past UPR commitments and in laying the groundwork for more effective action against rights violations on the ground.

You came to Geneva for the UPR Pre-Session of Turkey and to meet other permanent missions. How do the visit to Geneva help you in your advocacy work?

One of the most important differences of the UPR is that recommendations are made by UN member states. Due to the weakening of independent oversight mechanisms in Turkey, unanswered parliamentary questions and dysfunctional accountability mechanisms in public administration, it becomes critical to bring these issues through direct contact on the agenda of international actors. The Pre-Session is an important opportunity to engage directly with state representatives to share our evidence-based recommendations, contribute to governments setting the human rights agenda for Turkey and increase international pressure. These meetings support our efforts to establish a concrete monitoring mechanism to hold the government accountable for the fulfilment of its obligations. They are also crucial for strengthening international solidarity and placing civil society priorities at the centre of the UPR.

What are the most important issues you would like to see addressed during the review of Turkey in May?

We would like other states to address the weakening of judicial independence, the suppression of fundamental freedoms, the policy of impunity for human rights violations, and the increasing pressure on civil society. Other main problems are the gradual weakening of state accountability mechanisms, the uncontrolled use of public resources, the protection of public officials in human rights violations, and the disappearance of independent judicial oversight.

While gender inequality is deepening, women's rights are seriously regressing and gender-based violence is increasing. The lack of effective investigation and prosecution mechanisms for femicides and violence in Turkey, the loss of rights caused by the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention and the pressure on women's rights defenders should be addressed.

In terms of environmental justice, the lack of transparency and accountability in environmental decision-making processes, ineffective implementation of environmental laws, lack of enforcement of stay of execution orders in judicial proceedings and rights violations by the extractive industry on local communities are of great concern. In addition, stopping the repression of human rights defenders working in the fields of gender and environment as well as increasing legal safeguards are also among the most urgent issues.

Once Turkey has received its recommendations in Geneva in May, the government will have to implement them over the next 4.5 years.How will you follow up on Turkey's UPR recommendations at the national level?

As in previous cycles, we will closely monitor Turkey's implementation of the UPR recommendations and establish a comprehensive work programme to document shortcomings. However, in this process, we will not only follow our own recommendations, but will establish a collective monitoring mechanism with civil society organizations representing different rights groups.

Above all, we will ensure that new recommendations and commitments are visible. In this context, we will further activate a website dedicated to the UPR. We will prepare reports documenting threats to the independence of the judiciary, impunity for human rights violations, and the lack of transparent management of public resources, specifically addressing issues of state accountability. We will follow up the process by conducting joint analyses with human rights organizations at quarterly evaluation meetings, and we will carry out advocacy activities against incomplete or unimplemented recommendations.

Our prioritized strategies will include raising public awareness, engaging parliamentarians, and using strategic litigation to force the state to fulfil its obligations. Using shadow reporting mechanisms, we will assess the implementation of UPR recommendations and put pressure at the national and international level on the government to strengthen accountability mechanisms.

About

Established in 2005 by human rights organizations, Human Rights Joint Platform’s (IHOP) long-term goal is to contribute to the development of an enabling environment in which the human rights movement is able to influence policy and decision-making processes at the national level. IHOP acts as a central platform that brings together human rights organizations, strengthens joint action, and increases solidarity in rights-based struggle. By promoting the exchange of information, experience, and views among organizations, it enables the human rights movement to move forward in a more effective and collective manner.

Feray Salman, graduated from the Middle East Technical University (METU), Department of Urban and Regional Planning. She is a human rights defender who has been actively advocating in the field of human rights since the 1990s. As the general coordinator of IHOP she works on the documentation of human rights violations, submissions to international human rights mechanisms, and accountability. Before joining the human rights movement, she worked for 12 years at the Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey. Her main areas of work among others are women's rights, democracy, accountability, gender equality, environmental justice, migrant rights, and impunity as well as preparing reports and advocating on international platforms. In 2024, she was awarded the Human Rights Award by Germany and France.

More information:

• All information (including factsheets) on the Pre-Session of Turkey organized by ‘UPR-Info’
• Information on Turkey in the UPR in the UPR-Info Database
• Information by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Uruguay in the UPR
• Website of FES Turkey