Inspiring meeting with a delegation human rights defenders from DRC and Turkey
08-01-2024On 13 December 2023, a delegation of
Human Rights Tulip Award nominees visited WO=MEN. The visit was part of a trip organised by Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). This is a yearly award, handed out by the Dutch Government, to support human rights defenders and the work they do. During the visit, we exchanged about our ways of working on gender equality. Most importantly, we learned about the challenges and successes of the human rights activists.
Julienne Baseke, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), explained about the current gender imbalance in her country. For example, domestic violence is not criminalized, women are seen as object and property of their husband and femicide is frequent. Rape is used as a weapon in war, causing pregnant women to be stigmatized and isolated; and children to be requited for armed groups. In this context, Julienne strives for gender equality and works on the participation of women. As a journalist and founder of her organisation ‘Association of Women in the Media’ (AFEM), she focuses on the inclusion of women in media. One of her success stories is the founding of a local media station called ‘Mama Radio’, which is supported by 80 community radio stations. These media stations cover specific topics for women and serve as protection mechanisms, for example in alerting women on the danger of sexual violence by pointing out the presence armed groups.
In addition, Hülya Gülbahar, from Turkey, underlined the difficult working environment in her country, which she called gender apartheid. This is exemplified by the withdrawal of the Turkish government from
the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, the attack on LGBTQI+ people and the rewriting of the constitution. As a feminist lawyer and founder of the Women's Platform for Equality, Turkey, (EŞİK), she contributes to the women's movement by legally analyzing proposed laws. For example, she organised a public awareness-raising campaign for the purpose of the Istanbul Convention. Moreover, she was part of the Women's Platform Against Amnesty for Child Sexual Abusers, which successfully stopped the ruling's party second attempt in 2020 to pass legislation that would provide amnesty to child sexual abusers. Her work is very important, in a time when religious developments cause gender and women's rights to be under attack.
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