The history of women's fight for fundamental rights and freedoms is a history of fight for human rights. This fight, which emerged as the 'defence of women's rights', turned into a fight for the elimination of discrimination based on sex in the following centuries. In this context, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the commemoration of 8 March as "International Women's Day" on 16 December 1977.

All international human rights conventions prohibit discrimination based on sex in the exercise of rights and freedoms. In the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, it is stated that any discrimination, deprivation or restriction based on sex that prevents or abolishes or aims to prevent or abolish the recognition, enjoyment and utilization of civil, political, economic, social and/or cultural rights and freedoms of women based on equality between women and men is prohibited

The first paragraph of Article 10 of the Constitution of the Republic of Türkiye guarantees that everyone is equal before the law. Pursuant to the second paragraph of the relevant article, “Men and women have equal rights. The State has the obligation to ensure that this equality exists in practice. Measures taken for this purpose shall not be interpreted as contrary to the principle of equality.” Article 3 of the Law No. 6701 on the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye guarantees that everyone is equal in benefiting from the legally recognized rights and freedoms, and prohibits discrimination based on sex.

As a result of the severe earthquake disaster in Kahramanmaraş on February 6, 2023, great loss of life and property occurred in 11 provinces. It is stated that the earthquakes affected the region where 13.5 million people live. The devastating consequences of disasters such as earthquakes disproportionately affect different groups of society, such as women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons. Therefore, the needs of disadvantaged groups such as women and girls should be taken into consideration in all processes of disaster management.

HREIT, whose basic mission is to "protect and promote human rights, to work to ensure the right of people to be treated equally, to fight against torture and ill-treatment effectively", continues its activities in order to protect and promote human rights on the basis of the understanding of equal citizenship within the framework of this institutional mission. On the occasion of International Women's Day, we wish for a world where all kinds of discrimination against women came to an end and every individual enjoys equal rights.

Respectfully announced to the public.