Consolidating Power . . .

AA Photo from Hurriyet Daily News

Ahead of the AKP's expected victory on Sunday, Prime Minister Erdogan announced plans to alter the structure of his cabinet, a move many are reading as a step toward realizing Erdogan's ultimate ambition to establish a presidential system.

The new cabinet will contain 25 ministers, including the prime minister. Some ministries, such as the Ministry for Women and Family, will be eliminated or merged, while six more will be added. From Hurriyet Daily News:

If his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, is returned to power in the June polls, Erdoğan said, the administration will have six new ministries, while the total number of ministries will be lowered from 27 to 25.

The prime minister said eight current state ministries will be abolished. The new ministries will be the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, the Ministry of European Union, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Customs and Trade and the Ministry of Development. The Ministry of European Union will coordinate the affairs for Turkey’s EU bid.

Currently these areas fall under the responsibility of state ministers in Ankara; the new ministries will also have offices around the country.

“We will also create a deputy minister position” that will rank between the minister and the undersecretary, Erdoğan said, speaking at his party’s headquarters.

The new Cabinet will include 20 ministers plus the prime minister and four deputy prime ministers. Each of the 20 ministers will be assigned deputies.

The deputy ministers will not be parliamentary deputies, but will be appointed to their positions with the new government and will leave their posts if it is voted out of power. The deputy ministers will be experts in their sectors and will be selected for their ability to make the ministries operate faster and more efficiently, Erdoğan said. “It will be possible to bring them in from the private sector,” he added.

Each deputy minister will be appointed with the approval of the respective minister, the prime minister and the president. The appointees will not have to have university degrees, “and can even be elementary school graduates,” Erdoğan said, pointing to important businesspeople such as Vehbi Koç as examples.

“They will work as a political undersecretary, and the current undersecretaries will carry out the administrative functions,” the prime minister said.

Some ministries will be renamed or merged under the proposed restructuring. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will become the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, while the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will be changed to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry will meanwhile merge with the Ministry of Public Affairs and Settlement to become the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and City Planning.

One concern with the new plan is that each ministry will now have an undersecretary responsible for the technical aspects of the ministerial portfolio as well as a deputy prime minister responsible for the politics involved therein. What happens if the two ministers have conflicting views? Will the deputy ministers, who do not sit in parliament, be subject to parliamentary oversight?

Hurriyet Daily News columnist Izgi Gungor reviews some of the potential problems with the deputy minister scheme here, including the potential for further privatization given that the deputies will be appointed outside normal bureaucratic channels and that many of whom will be coming from the private sector. Privatization of public resources has been a keystone of Erdogan's political and economic agenda.

President Gul has expressed his opposition to the presidency, which Erdogan has expressed his intention to occupy should a presidential system come to be as the government moves forward to re-write a whole new constitution after Sunday's elections.


UPDATE I (6/9) -- Human Rights Watch echoes the concerns of many Turkish women's groups in response to the government's plans to eliminate the Ministry for Women and Family Affairs. The government is planning to create another ministry re-named the Ministry of Family and Social Policies. Women's groups have expressed concerns that women's issues are important only insomuch as they involve the family and this despite rising domestic violence and continuing problems related to underemployment and representation in politics.  Jenny White expounds on the problem here.

UPDATE II (6/10) -- The CHP has announced its intention to challenge the restructuring at the Constitutional Court. For more, click here.

Progress on the Domestic Violence Front

Turkey has signed a new Council of Europe convention to prevent and combat violence against women. As documented by a report released by Human Rights Watch earlier this month, Turkey has been plagued by domestic violence over the years thanks in part to problems implementing existing law. Turkey pushed very hard for the Convention to be opened for signatures at the Council's recent ministerial meeting. From Hurriyet Daily News:

Reaching a consensus proved difficult as many countries expressed resistance to the far-reaching provisions of the convention, but Turkey adopted a negotiation position based on international standards, Acar told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview.

“We did not hide behind any cultural, economic or political pretexts and we resisted those who wanted to water down the stipulations,” she added.

The convention is revolutionary in the sense that it accepts violence against women as a human-rights violation, according to Acar. “This is very important, because violence against women will no longer be seen as a social problem. This will strengthen women’s demands for access to judicial recourse as well as protection,” she said.

Also important is the fact that the convention has endorsed a wide-ranging definition of “violence,” Acar added.

“Violence is not only physical. It can be economic or psychological; stalking is, for instance, a type of violence,” she said. The convention also includes violence against immigrant women, a measure that was resisted by some countries.

The convention covers what are called “the 4 Ps”: prevention, protection, prosecution and policy.

“The fourth P is especially important for Turkey, since we lack an integrated policy on gender equality. This convention will be known as the Istanbul convention and that way Turkey will be known as a country championing the cause of combating violence against women,” Acar told the Daily News.

“Just as we endorsed a zero-tolerance policy on preventing torture, we need to endorse zero tolerance on violence against women. In this sense, this convention will be a new driving force for Turkish domestic efforts,” she said. “Because we really need a mentality change, especially as far as implementation is concerned. All the judges, prosecutors, police and health officials will have to be trained. And for that Turkey needs to ratify the convention as soon as possible to set a good example as well.”

And more from Bianet:

Some 20 to 25 percent of women across the European region suffer physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives, according to the explanatory memorandum accompanying the Convention.

The convention is the first legally binding instrument in the region that creates a comprehensive legal framework to combat violence against women through prevention, protection, prosecution, and victim support. It defines and criminalizes multiple forms of violence against women: physical, sexual and psychological violence, as well as forced marriage and female genital mutilation. The treaty also establishes an international group of independent experts to monitor its implementation at the national level.

The Convention addresses gaps in domestic violence legislation and implementation, such as weak laws, bad implementation of protection laws, lack of coordination, lack of access to justice, low funding for domestic violence responses, lack of shelters, and lack of prevention measures.

To implement the convention, countries will establish hotlines, shelters, medical and forensic services, counseling, as well as legal aid.

Progress at the top to be sure, but real change, of course, will be shown from below and Turkey's willingness and effectiveness to ensure that police officers and other state agents responsible for protecting women follow legal guidelines.

"He Loves You, He Beats You"

Human Rights Watch has released a report on domestic violence, a problem that has been gaining increased attention in recent years. As HRW reports, police too often neglect their responsibilities to protect women against violence, which has led to a plethora of stories of women who ended up dead despite their efforts to seek police protection. Following a June 2009 decision of the European Court of Human Rights, it is a state obligation to protect women when they report such violence. As HRW's report documents, problems with implementation of the ruling continue. From the report's summary:

“It always happened at night,” Hamiyet M. told Human Rights Watch. For 24 long years, Hamiyet’s husband had abused her by severely beating her and raping her almost daily. When she finally summoned the courage to go to police in her town in eastern Turkey, they sent her home, twice. The beatings continued, in one instance proving so severe she wound up in hospital where she spoke with a police officer for a third time. Yet again, she received neither sympathy nor help. “Are we supposed to deal with you all the time?” the officer scolded.

Some 42 percent of all women older than 15 in Turkey and 47 percent of women living in the country’s rural areas—approximately eleven million women in total—have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a husband or partner at some point in their lives, according to a 2009 survey conducted by a leading Turkish university.

Female domestic violence survivors, lawyers, and local experts on family violence interviewed for this report described husbands and family members inflicting brutal and long-lasting violence on women and girls that in some cases lasted for decades, affecting several generations of women. Researchers documented women and girls as young as 14 being raped; stabbed; kicked in the abdomen when pregnant; beaten with hammers, sticks, branches, and hoses to the point of broken bones and fractured skulls; locked up with dogs or other animals; starved; shot with a stun gun; injected with poison; pushed off a roof; and subjected to severe psychological violence. The violence occurred in all areas where researchers conducted interviews, and across income and education levels.

In recent years Turkey has taken important legislative steps towards addressing violence against women. But despite these impressive advances, most notably Law 4320 on the Protection of the Family (“Law 4320” or “protection law”), remaining gaps in the law and failures of implementation make the protection system unpredictable at best, and at times downright dangerous. Furthermore, this legislative process is undermined by the government’s failure to better prevent abuse in the first place, change discriminatory attitudes, and effectively address the barriers that deter women and girls from reporting abuse and accessing protection.

This report focuses on the civil remedies available in Turkey to survivors of domestic violence. These options—which aim to provide immediate protection from harm, create space for a victim to decide her course of action, and prevent an abuser hampering criminal or divorce proceedings with intimidation or threats—take two main forms. The first is physical protection in shelters, the second is civil protection orders—emergency measures intended to stop further abuse, which is common in domestic violence cases, including instructions to an abuser to stay away from the house and refrain from violence against the victim.

The research found that implementation of Law 4320 regularly falls short because enforcement officers, judges, and prosecutors neglect their duties, often due to lack of expertise or will to deal with cases of violence against women and girls in a manner that is effective and sensitive to the needs and human rights of victims. Women who do report family violence to police risk being turned away, and face poor enforcement of protection orders: indeed, some women have been murdered after obtaining a protection order against their killer. Shelters are lacking, and those that do exist often exclude certain groups of women, restrict movement and communications, and are vulnerable to security breaches. Environments in which women are supposed to report violence—particularly police stations and family courts—often lack the private space necessary to do so. In addition, differing understandings of the law—specifically, the scope of eligibility for protection orders—undermine its effectiveness and can exclude the most vulnerable victims of domestic violence.

Implementing Law 4320 was supposed to be a priority of the Ministry of Women and Family. Last March Selma Aliye Kavaf, who heads the ministry, said many women who reported abuse were not properly protected because the police to whom they reported did not in turn report to the Ministry, and so proper procedures were not followed. As far as I can tell, little progress has been made here. Further, under Turkish law, each municipality with a population of over 50,000 people is supposed to have a women's shelter, though this is still far from the case (see this post from last March). For news coverage of the report from Hurriyet Daily News, click here.

A Sobering International Women's Day

Ayse Pasali, who was allegedly shot to death by her ex-husband, unsuccessfully sought official protection due to her husband's alleged physical abuse and threats to kill her. PHOTO from Radikal

From Bianet:

The Turkish Medical Association Women Doctors and Women's Health Branch indicated that violence against women in Turkey increased on the grounds of social insecurity caused by capitalism, male domination and the destruction of the social state. Other reasons for the increase of violence were a failing of the state to protect women and the impassiveness of the media regarding the whole topic.

The women's branch announced, "Apart from intensifying the struggle and strengthening solidarity, only very few tiny things have changed for women since the witch-hunting era in the middle ages. Migration and poverty becomes more and more an issue for women. Men dominate women and usurp and control their identity and body. This domination provides them with concrete, tangible benefits".

"Statistics suggest that women murders have increased by 1,400 percent in the last seven years. At least five women are killed every day by men by reasons of honour, virtue or morality. On 8 March this year we are demonstrating once more for our labour, our bodies, our identities and our freedoms."

Prof. Şahika Yüksel and Assoc. Prof. Ayşe Devrim Başterzi, who conducted the study, are not without ideas of how to address the problem, which include amending the Penal Code to eliminate "unjust provocation" as a mitigating factor. Under a recent decision by the European Court of Human Rights, Turkey is required to protect a woman's right to life in cases of domestic abuse, a legal duty Turkey has had difficulty upholding. Below are photos and summaries of the murders of eight women killed in the first two months of 2011 (thanks to Hurriyet Daily News).

Not a "Trivial" Matter

From Bianet:

"Women who have been exposed to violence for years call for help only as a last resort and ask to stay in women's shelters. Almost all of them come to us with serious fractures and physical and psychological injuries. Their lives were in danger several times".

With this explanation, Nebahat Akkoç from Ka-Mer, Zozan Özgökçe from the Van Women's Association and Harika Peker from the SELİS Women's Association reacted to a statement made by Oktay Taş, Provincial Manager of Social Services in Diyarbakır in south-eastern Turkey who said that "women apply for shelter for trivial reasons".

Ka-Mer is a Turkish women's group in Diyarbakır that finds shelter for and offers legal aid to women who have been threatened by their relatives. The SELİS Women's Association is active in the region of the Batman Municipality in the country's south-east.

Akkoç from Ka-Mer criticized that provinces make the places of shelter homes public. Peker from SELİS drew attention to problems experienced at provincial directorates for social service.

Özgökçe from the Van Women's Association underlined the fact that women are not only exposed to physical violence but become victims of economic, sexual and emotional violence as well. "Many women cannot talk about the violence they have experienced when they apply to us at first. The most severe traumata are forgotten and surface again years later".

For past posts on domestic violence, which is particularly bothersome in the southeast, click here.

I have seen nothing on where the Kurdish BDP stands on implementation problems of new domestic violence measures in affect throughout Turkey. Recently, the party has taken a stand against berdel marriages, a common custom among some of Turkey's Kurds that sometimes involves forced marriage.

Hurdles to Dealing with Domestic Violence

From Bianet:

The report on Education regarding Co-operation between Institutions has been published as part of the Hürriyet ('Freedom') Campaign against Domestic Violence.

The report was prepared by the coordinator of the campaign, Neşe Hacısalihoğlu, and is based on data collected in 33 provinces and five counties between 9 September and 29 October 2009.

The Hürriyet Campaign against Domestic Violence was part of the 'Freedom is our Right' Train Project which travelled all over the country. Representatives of the governorship, municipalities, Social Services and Child Protection Institution (SHÇEK), the police, the gendarmerie, the National Education Department, the Health Department, universities, the Registration Office, the Social Welfare and Solidarity Foundation, bar associations and non-governmental organizations took part in the training program carried out in cooperation of several institutions.

The report reveals concrete data on difficulty experienced with police forces, the SHÇEK, at family courts, with bar associations, at health institutions, at schools and public education, with the social welfare and solidarity foundation, with the Registration Office, with municipalities and non-governmental organizations.

The report analyses problems experienced by the employees of these institutions and suggests feasible solutions.

The litany of problems Bianet extracts from the report is overwhelming, giving just some idea as to how difficult domestic violence is to effectively address. Impunity abounds, bureacracy and courts can exacerbate already grave situations (see criticisms of the Law on Family Protection), and a serious lack of services persists.

Barriers to Protecting a Woman's Right to Life

Following the European Court of Human Rights' June 2009 decision that states have an obligation to protect a woman's right to life, and that failing to do so amounts to gender-based discrimination, Turkey is still struggling to meet its legal responsibilities. A recent law mandated that cities with populations of more than 50,000 provide a women's shelter, but there are no sanctions in force to give the law teeth. March has seen four women who had applied to state institutions under the auspices of new procedures designed to empower women in cases of domestic violence subjected to extreme forms of violence. Minister for Women and Family Selma Aliye Kavaf said the police in these cases did not inform her ministry, and so proper procedures were not followed. Kavaf also cited bureacratic difficulties in sorting through applications from women with the same name. From Bianet:

Gökçe Kartaler, volunteer of the women's shelter Mor Çatı ('Purple Roof'), recalled a decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) given in June 2009. The court sentenced Turkey to a compensation fine in the case of Nahide Opuz because "she had not been protected by the state" when she applied for help by reason of her violent husband.

Kartaler indicated that subsequent to this decision, the Ministries of the Interior and of Women and Families signed a joint protocol. However, difficulty was experienced for the implementation of the protocol.

"According to the protocol, records must be drawn up instantly if a woman comes to the police to document the exposure to violence. If the woman does not want to go back home, she shall be directed to a shelter. Yet, the statement made by Kavaf shows that the police do not fulfil this responsibility", Kartaler argued. Selma Aliye Kavaf is the Minister for Women and Families.

In Kartaler's opinion, not only police forces are responsible for women murders but also the lack of capacities regarding Social Services and Child Protection Agencies.

Kartaler calls for increasing these capacities since even if the police directs the women to a shelter, there is no social service unit available 24 hours a day seven days a week. The police cannot reach social service officials off-time. Another deficiency is the education within the service.

"Many police officers do not know where they are supposed to look for help and that the prosecutor has to be informed in case of an application related to violence", Kartaler said.

What needs to be done? Kartaler replies, "First of all, a service has to be established that works 24 hours a day seven days a week. The police must be able to contact experts on domestic violence at any time, they could provide a more sensitive and effective approach. Additionally, social service experts are needed at police stations".

Kartaler also touches upon the importance of vocational training for police officers for the prevention of violence against women. "Education is insufficient. When a police officer changes his/her position, it is not checked whether s/he received training accordingly. The presence of a trained police officer in every police station for every shift is not being monitored."

"Considering European standards, one save place for a women and her child is allotted in 7,500 people. In Turkey, we struggle to open shelters for municipalities of a population exceeding 50,000 people", Kartaler explains and expresses her hopes: "There are positive developments. Now we are struggling for their implementations".

Questions: What procedures must a woman go through when seeking protection from the police, and are these in any way cumbersome? What is the application process for entering state-run women's shelter, and what protections are afforded upon entry? What specific trainig, if any, have local police undertaken to ensure that procedures are properly followed, and just how do local authorities coordinate efforts with the Ministry for Women and Families? And, to date, how many shelters have been opened in cities with populations of over 50,000 people, and just what is the Ministry and the government doing to ensure compliance with the law?


UPDATE I (3/22) -- Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Van deputy Fatma Kurtulan submitted a question motion demanding a response from the justice minister on why so many women who are victims of domestic violence are killed by their husbands or abusive lovers despite having applied to the police and prosecutors for protection several times. From Today's Zaman:

Kartaler says that following Turkey’s conviction at the ECHR, a protocol was signed between the Interior Ministry and the Ministry for Women and Family Affairs. However, there have been problems executing it. “According to the protocol, when a woman goes to a police station, the officers have to file records without demanding proof of violence. If the woman doesn’t want to go home, she should be referred to a women’s shelter. However, the police rarely fulfill their responsibility.”

A Long Road to "Equal": A Glimpse at the Status of Women in Turkey

Turkey should be praised as being one of the first countries to enfranchise women (in 1934) and for making equal rights for women a key part of the Ataturk reform era. At the same time, the status of women in Turkey seems to be getting worse on a number of fronts. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report, Turkey came in 129 of 134 countries surveyed, consistently falling in the rankings over the past years. And, according to the UN Development Program's Gender Empowerment Measure, Turkey ranked 101 out of 109 countries surveyed, placing Turkey, the 17th-largest economy in the world, among countries far less developed.

Employment

Last week the Global Post's Nichole Sobecki ran an article exploring the low rate of female employment in Turkey -- 21.6%, and down from 34.3% in 1988. The average in the European Union is 57%, and Turkey trails all OECD countries. Female employment has been dropping for a variety of reasons, among them the decline in agricultural employment. However, apart from structural changes to the economy, a number of impediments prevent women from entering the workforce, including the low level of female education, the lack of adequate childcare facilities, sexual harassment, and conservative attitudes when it comes to women working and leaving the house/traveling about. Patriarchal laws like one requiring employers to allow women a monthly five days leave for menstruation do little to lift these barriers. And, as with other countries, promoting equality between women and men delivers for the whole society as well. Sobecki interviews the World Bank's Country Director for Turkey, Ulrich Zachau, who claims that just a 6-7% increase in women's employment would reduce the poverty level by 15%. According to a recent joint report by the World Bank and the Turkish State Planning Organization, three in four women are unemployed and not looking for work. The women's branch of the AKP has recently published a brief report on the subject.

Education

Though women constitute 43% of undergraduate university students despite the discriminatory headscarf ban, men and women are still quite stratified in terms of fields of pursued study. And, though women make up 40% of all academics (a statistic frequently touted about), they comprise only 10% of university rectors and 15% of deans.

Problems are worse when it comes to primary school education. An estimated 70% of girls in the southeast of Turkey receive primary school education, and illiteracy rates are much higher for women than men. Compulsory education has been suggested as one means of redressing these problems. At the moment, eight years of school ae compulsory Enforcement in rural areas, particularly in the southeast, is, of course, also a major problem. Projects like Kardenler have worked to draw attention to the problem and provide scholarships to young women. See also the Prime Ministerial General Directorate on the Status of Women (KSGM)'s report entitled "The Situation of Women in Turkey".

Domestic Violence

Women continue to face significant domestic violence despite the laudable efforts of civil society groups in recent years to provide shelters, training, and rights education. The government has passed a law mandating that cities with populations of more than 50,000 provide a women's shelter, but there are no sanctions in force to give the law teeth.

According to a report by a parliamentary commission designed to address gender equality, one in four women are married under the age of 18. Under the Civil Code, which was overhauled in 2003, women may marry with parental consent at 17, and at 16 with permission of the court. However, in rural areas, women frequently marry much earlier. A proposed solution has been to pass a law making it a criminal offense to marry one's child if under the legal age, though the proposal has never gone very far.

Politics

Only 9.9% of parliamentarians are women while an even more disturbing 0.42% of women were elected in municipal elections. Only two of Turkey's 81 greater munciipalities have female mayors. Though women's rights groups have disagreed on a gender quota, women's representation remains remarkably low across all political parties with the exception of the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). Women's branches often play a subordinate role in political parties, and women rarely reach top political posts. A notable exception is Tansu Ciller, who reached the post of prime minister in the National Salvation Party.


UPDATE I (3/9) -- According to a UN released statement, a reported 42% of women experience physical and sexual violence in their marriages. As for the women's shelters alluded to above, the UN puts their number at 52 for an estimated population of 35 million women.

UDATE II (3/19) -- The Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGIT) is launching a campaign to raise awareness of the low rate of female employment in Turkey. The campaign will target businesses and politicians, and the group is working with the World Bank to devise measurable criteria to be used in granting certificates to businesses for their employment practices in regard to women.

Collective Labor Agreements Empower Women in the Southeast

From Bianet:

A public employee of the Diyarbakır Yenişehir Municipality had to pay half of his salary to his wife because of resorting to violence within his family. The wife of cleaning personnel member L.A. had applied to the Yenişehir Municipality in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakır, claiming that her husband resorted to violence. After an investigation into the matter municipality officials confirmed the claim. According to article 93/a of the Collective Labour Agreement (TİS), "An employee who applies force to his/her spouse is to pay half of his/her salary to the spouse", thus L.A. paid half of his TL 500 (approx. € 230) wage to his wife.

Even though this application against violence imposed within the family might be perceived as a novelty, in fact collective labour agreements of numerous municipalities include similar regulations.

Municipal and Local Authority Trade Union (Tüm Bel-Sen) General President Vicdan Baykara pointed out that at least 40 municipalities in Turkey signed collective labour agreements that include the corrensponding clause for personnel resorting to violence in the family. Baykara emphasized, "The important part is the implementation. Women mayors are usually more sensitive about applications to protect women's rights".

"The collective labour agreement signed by us embraces further regulations in favour of women. The Women's Worls Labour Day on 8 March is recognized as a holiday for the female staff and the women's quota of municipality personnel is set at 50 percent. These are just a few examples", Baykara explained.

"We design our agreements according to the needs of our local staff. Therefore, the articles included in the agreement are not random but can be implemented specifically. It provides both rights of and responsibility for the employees. The important issue is the implementation, of course. The female mayors play an important role in this. The awareness for social gender rises with female mayors", Baykara indicated.

The first I ever heard of such agreements was back in July, when Abdullah Demirtas, mayor of Diyarbakir's Sur municipality, put into effect a collective labor agreement for Sur with the cooperation of a local union for municipal workers. The concept seems novel, and might well deliver results in a region where domestic violence runs high and accountability low. Any more information on these agreements is more than appreciated.

Landmark ECHR Decision on Domestic Violence

Nahide Opuz and her mother were subject to the extreme violence of Nahide's husband and stepfather, her husband's mother, between 1995, when Nahide was married, and 2002, when Nahide's husband shot and killed her mother while they were attempting to drive away. Nahide and her mother had complained to police since 1995, and continued to complain after Nahide's husband stabbed her in 2001 to be released with a fine. The two left after Nahide's mother reportedly decided the two neeed to leave to save their lives. After killing Nahide's husband killed her mother, local authorities released him despite his receiving a life sentence. His release resulted from his claim that he had murdered Nahide's mother to protect the family's honor.

After her mother's murder, Nahide appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) after exhausting all legal resorts in Turkey. Nahide claimed the police and local courts had violated numerous articles of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, include Article 2 (right to life), Article 3 (prohibiting torture and "inhuman or degreading treatment and punishment"), Article 13 (guaranteeing the right for an effective remedy before national authorities for violations of the Convention), and Article 14 (prohibiting discrimination). The ECHR found all rights had been violated, including, most significantly, Article 14. In its conclusion, the ECHR recognized "gender-based" violence as discrimination, for the first time ruling that the state had a right to protect women from domestic violence under the article. Click here for the decision. From the Wall Street Journal:

The case is a landmark ruling for Europe. For the first time, it classifies such cases as gender discrimination, giving the Strasbourg court jurisdiction in cases of domestic violence.

Andrea Coombers, legal practice director at the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights in London, said describing gender-based violence as discrimination "is what the rest of the world has thought for at least a decade. It is a significant step in the right direction by the European Union."

Mesut Bestas, the lawyer for Ms. Opuz, added: "European legislation on freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and right to life is clear, but when it comes to the issue of women's rights, the legal framework is murky. ... This trial begins to shed light on that murkiness."

Bianet reports that though Opuz is pleased with the decision, she still lives in fear of her husband is not receiving protection from the police.

For more on violence against women, see especially Jenny White's blog, Kamil Pasha, which does an excellent job of chronicling domestic violence cases. I would also


UPDATE 6/23 -- Today's Zaman reports that Opuz is now receiving protection from the state, but is also seeking the protection of her children. See also Rahila Gupta's recent column in The Guardian. Gupta addresses the case in regard to domestic violence cases in the UK. See also the comments of Hülya Gülbahar, president of the Association for the Support and Education of Women Candidates (KA-DER), which ran in Bianet.