Particularly after the Second World War, the approach that human rights should be protected in the international arena gave way to the idea that independent and autonomous national human rights institutions should be established in the 1990s for the protection of human rights. The process, which started with the initiatives of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Commission to establish national committees in 1946, resulted in the adoption of the Paris Principles, which set international standards for national institutions, in 1991 and the approval of these principles by the UN General Assembly in 1993. As a reflection of this idea, the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye (HREIT) was established with the Law No. 6701, which was published in the Official Gazette dated 20/04/2016 and numbered 29690.
HREIT, which performs its duties in order to protect and promote human rights based on human dignity, to ensure the right of individuals to be treated equally, to prevent discrimination in the enjoyment of legally recognized rights and freedoms, to effectively fight against torture and ill-treatment, and to fulfill its duty as a national preventive mechanism in this regard, undertakes an important mission in eliminating discrimination and developing an understanding of equality in society with its function of preventing violations of rights and promoting human rights.
HREIT, which is a reliable, effective and respected institution with its activities, policies and decisions in the protection and strengthening of human rights, and continues its activities with this vision, functions as a 'bridge' between international norms and local practice.
In line with this mission and vision, HREIT continues its activities in 3 main mandates as: National Preventive Mechanism, Combating Discrimination and Protection and Promotion of Human Rights. Since its establishment in 2016, HREIT has carried out and continues to carry out various activities in order to ensure the protection and promotion of human rights in our country and to prevent violations of rights in a period of 7 years.
HREIT is mandated to examine allegations of violation of the right to equal treatment, discrimination or torture and ill-treatment upon application, and also has the authority to conduct an investigation ex officio. It does not receive applications regarding other human rights violation allegations and may initiate an investigation ex officio when it deems necessary.
HREIT, which received a total of 7810 applications in its 7-year operating period as of April 6, 2023, reached the highest number of applications in 2022 with 2020 applications. 577 applications received in the first 4 months of 2023. 42 were made by men, 331 by prisoners, and 28 by people with disabilities of these applications. In this context, it is noteworthy that 6 out of every 10 applications made to the Institution are made by vulnerable groups such as prisoners, children, and the disabled.
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNIT
HREIT, which received a total of 3945 applications within the scope of the National Preventive Mechanism between 2016-2023, decided to conciliation 65 of these applications, to provide legal guidance for 207, to send 229 to the relevant institution, and met the information requests of 255 applicants. It was decided that 228 of the applications were reasoned decisions of inadmissibility, there was no violation about 87 of them, and there was a violation about 4 of them.
The Unit, which has visited all 81 provinces at least once as of the end of 2022, has made a total of 212 visits to many detention centers, including prison, custodial prison, removal centers, and disabled and special care centers, during its 7-year operating period. The number of centers planned to be visited in 2023 has been determined as 53. As a result of the visits, the number of criminal complaints made to the competent authorities is 2.
HREIT, which has published a total of 174 reports on its visits, continues the report writing process for 32 visits. In addition to the visit reports, a thematic report titled “The Report on Evaluation of Pushback Actions Against Asylum Seekers and Irregular Migrants from a Human Rights Perspective” was published. Organizing 2 national symposiums, the Unit contributed to 32 national/international symposiums, meetings and other studies.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND PROJECT UNIT
In the Human Rights Action Plan, which was shared with the public on March 2, 2021, one of the goals was “to harmonize the structure of HREIT with the Principles on the Status of UN National Human Rights Institutions and to obtain the Global Network of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) accreditation within 1 year” has been determined. In this context, the studies carried out under the coordination of the International Relations and Project Unit resulted in the accreditation of HREIT in B status with the official letter dated 10 October 2022 transmitted by the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) within GANHRI.
The International Relations and Project Unit, which participated in a total of 147 international events between 2016-2023, organized 3 international symposiums and 1 international summit. During its 7-year operating period, the Unit contributed to a total of 25 international reporting studies and signed memorenda of understanding with 8 different international stakeholders. The International Relations and Project Unit conducted 2 thematic reports titled "Armenia's Actions in Karabakh: Human Rights Violations and Monitoring the Violations Report" and "EU Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Program Working Group Report". The Unit has published fact sheets on the topics of Child Friendly Justice System, Victimization, Climate Change and Human Rights, Elderly Rights, Hate Speech, Right to Work in Prison, Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights.
The Unit, which participates in meetings and events by maintaining cooperation and dialogue with other relevant international actors as well as with peer institutions, continues to contribute to various reports and projects, particularly country reports and national action plans.
PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS UNIT
A total of 5 symposiums, 3 summits, 1 forum, 2 workshops and 1 panel were organized by the Unit between 2016-2023 in order to discuss the problems and solutions in the field of human rights and to exchange information and views on these issues. During the 7-year operating period, mainly after 2021, 17 consultation meetings, 1 Regional Provincial and Sub-Provincial Human Rights Boards meeting, and 11 human rights board meetings were held.
A total of 23 cooperation protocols were signed, mainly in the last two years, in the years 2016-2023, during which pre-vocational and in-service training was given to 48 public institutions and organizations. 17 human rights conversations were held. Meetings were held by participating in the events organized by stakeholder institutions and organizations 104 times.
In the Unit, where the writing process of 9 reports is currently ongoing, 7 thematic reports and 1 public opinion survey have been conducted since its establishment. A total of 9 awareness-raising activities were carried out, such as a short film, a painting, knowledge contest and children's rights festival. Between 2016 and 2023, a total of 1020 applications, mainly from real persons, were sent to the unit, 13 of these applications were ex officio investigation, 19 were given legal advice, 88 were sent to the relevant administration, 108 were found unexaminable, 44 were about the decision of inadmissibility was made.
In addition, posters and brochures were carried out on specific rights areas such as the right to a fair trial, the right to work, the right to the environment, children's rights, and freedom of thought and opinion. In this context, numerous symposium and workshop proceedings book and academic journals were published, and Provincial and Sub-Provincial Human Rights Boards Bulletins were published monthly.
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUALITY UNIT
Between 2016 and 2023, 649 of the 1257 applications received to the Institution, mainly on the basis of marital status, sex, disability and belief, were examined on merits. As a result of the main examination conducted between 2018 and 2022, 62 decisions of violation, 82 decisions that there were no violations, 54 reasoned inadmissibility decisions, 35 decisions of non-examination, and 4 decisions of conciliation were given.
The Unit, which has carried out 6 awareness-raising activities in areas with many titles such as painting competition, interview, video and public opinion research, has organized 3 consultation committee meetings in the field of Combating Discrimination so far. The Roma Rights Summit was held in 2022 and the Hate Speech and Hate Crimes Symposium was organized.
The Unit, which has 2 thematic reports titled "The Right to Education of Children with Autism and the Prohibition of Discrimination Report" and "Review of the Decision of the European Union Court of Justice dated 15.07.2021 and numbered 128/21", continues its reporting studies on 3 thematic areas. In the last two years, 11 different guide studies have been carried out under the title of " Discrimination Ground Series". In addition, 8 training activities were organized by the Unit in a 7-year period regarding the prohibition of discrimination.
STATS
Between 2016-2023
• Number of Thematic Reports: 11
1. The Right to Education of Children with Autism and the Prohibition of Discrimination
2. Report Review of the Decision of the European Union Court of Justice dated 15.07.2021 and numbered 128/21
3. Armenia's Actions in Karabakh: Human Rights Violations and Monitoring of Violations Report
4. February 28 Coup Report in the Context of Human Rights
5. Provincial and Sub-Provincial Human Rights Boards Analysis Report 2022
6. Deported Foreigners and the Principle of Non-Refoulement
7. The Report on Evaluation of Pushback Actions Against Asylum Seekers and Irregular Migrants from a Human Rights Perspective
8. Türkiye Elderly Rights Report
9. EU Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Program Working Group Report
10. Turkish National Report on Combating Human Trafficking (in publishing)
11. Evaluation of Post-earthquake Rent Increases in the Context of the Right to Shelter (in publishing)
• Published Annual Reports: 8
1. 2021 Report on Protection and Promotion of Human Rights
2. 2020 Report on the National Preventive Mechanism Against Torture and Ill-Treatment
3. 2020 Report on Protection and Promotion of Human Rights
4. 2019 Report on the National Preventive Mechanism Against Torture and Ill-Treatment
5. 2019 Report On Protection and Promotion of Human Rights
6. 2018 Report on Anti-discrimination
7. 2018 Report on the National Preventive Mechanism Against Torture and Ill-Treatment
8. 2018 Report on Protection and Promotion of Human Rights
• Number of Provincial Consultation Meetings: 17
1. Malatya
2. Trabzon
3. Edirne
4. Siirt
5. Zonguldak
6. Manisa
7. Van
8. Tekirdağ
9. Erzurum
10. Adana
11. İzmir
12. Çankırı
13. Afyonkarahisar
14. Eskişehir
15. Konya
16. İstanbul
17. Sakarya
• Number of International and National Symposiums, Conferences, Workshops, Summits: 20
• Number of NPM Visits: 212
• Number of Violation Decisions: 54
• Number of Conciliation Decisions: 68
• Legal Guidance: 226
• 11 Different Guides Under the Title “Discrimination Ground Series”
• Number of Cooperation Protocols Signed with Public Institutions, Bar Associations, Non-Governmental Organizations and Universities: 27
• Number of Memorandum of Understanding Signed with International Stakeholders: 9