18 July, the day when Nelson Mandela whose stance against racism and fight for freedom building peace are imprinted on the memories was born, was designated as "Nelson Mandela International Day" by United Nations General Assembly in order to honor Nelson Mandela and highlight the importance of his fight.

Nelson Mandela used his right to resist against the unlawful and inequitable mindset of "Apartheid" regime which is one of the biggest examples of institutionalized racial discrimination and he pioneered the dissolution of the racism which was strongly present in all public places of South Africa as a result of the long fight for equality and freedom. Despite his life full of unjust detainments and imprisonments, the plethora of times he was subjected to torture and pressure, he thinks that a vindictive attitude was not the solution, so Mandela came to prominence with his forgiving and unifying stance. As a matter of fact, emphasizing this stance with his words "It is so easy to break down and destroy. The heroes are those who make peace and build" Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. In 1994, he became the first black president of Republic of South Africa which was elected through democratic means in the election to which Africans of all walks of life. During his presidency, Mandela oversaw deeds such as preparing a new constitution, land reform and formation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the injustices of previous times.

Spending a long period of his life in prison due to injustices he faced, Mandela made efforts to prepare standards for prison conditions. On 4 December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted "the Nelson Mandela Rules" by amending some articles of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners in order to honor these efforts.

On this important day, as Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye, we wish for a world where minimum standards for treatment of prisoners are implemented.