Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Sep 05, 2025

Turkey urged to reverse decision ditching women’s rights accord

Turkey urged to reverse decision ditching women’s rights accord

Turkey’s decision to ditch a landmark international treaty to tackle violence against women and girls, could significantly set back efforts to tackle the problem, top UN-appointed independent rights expert said on Wednesday.
The warning from UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, follows President Recep Erdogan’s announcement in March last year that Turkey was pulling out of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, effective 1 July.

The accord is better known as the Istanbul Convention, after the Turkish city where it opened for signatures in 2011.

Officially, around one in four women in Tukey has suffered physical or sexual abuse by their partners, according to the latest available government data from a 2014 survey, the Special Rapporteur said in a statement.

There are also likely “hundreds of femicides” every year, she continued, pointing to serious underreporting of the issue, which was owing to a lack of confidence in protection mechanisms, widespread impunity and gender-related bias and discrimination.

The problem has also been compounded by increasing economic hardship and the cost of hosting close to four million refugees, mostly Syrians under temporary protection, the Special Rapporteur said.

In a statement, the rights expert added that “almost all stakeholders” she had met in Türkey during her just-finished official visit had unequivocally recognized the importance of the Convention in combating violence against women and girls.

Alsalem, who was appointed by and reports to the Human Rights Council in July last year, insisted that the Istanbul Convention was also “intrinsically linked” to Türkey’s “identity, aspirations, and its destined role and standing regionally and beyond”.

For those reasons, the Special Rapporteur urged the Government to “reconsider” its decision to pull out of the Convention and continue to uphold its other international human rights obligations.

The Special Rapporteur insisted that implementation of domestic Turkish legislation protecting women from abuse “had been weakened by Türkey’s withdrawal from the (Istanbul) Convention, including ...services currently in place for survivors of gender-based violence”.

Perpetrators had also been “emboldened” by the presidential announcement, effectively leaving victims “at increased risk of violence”, she warned.

“No society can truly prosper unless its woman and girls enjoy equality and freedom from violence,” Ms. Alsalem said. “All stakeholders I met agreed that violence against women and girls has no place in Turkish society. Türkey must therefore translate this belief into practice, by tackling impunity and prioritizing the issue of violence against women and girls at the highest levels.”

Outside the specific sphere of gender-based violence, Ms. Alsalem said that Türkey had made “considerable progress” towards sustainable development goals, by taking fundamental steps towards eradicating poverty and increasing support for marginalized and disadvantaged sections of society, including women and girls.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
×