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Road to Justice: Syrian Gender-Based Violence Survivors and Turkey's International Obligations

Yilmaz, Yagmur LU (2021) JAMM07 20211
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
Gender-based violence survivors have barriers to access to justice around the globe. However,
States are responsible for removing those barriers and ensuring that everyone can access needed
services and justice without discrimination regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, race,
nationality, disability, or age. Turkey is no exception with its international commitments and
domestic laws to serve this purpose.
Refugee women are having numerous difficulties and disadvantages due to their gender, race,
and nationality while accessing support services, law enforcement, and judicial mechanisms
when they are exposed to gender-based violence. Turkey is a home for the largest number of
Syrian refugees and has international... (More)
Gender-based violence survivors have barriers to access to justice around the globe. However,
States are responsible for removing those barriers and ensuring that everyone can access needed
services and justice without discrimination regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, race,
nationality, disability, or age. Turkey is no exception with its international commitments and
domestic laws to serve this purpose.
Refugee women are having numerous difficulties and disadvantages due to their gender, race,
and nationality while accessing support services, law enforcement, and judicial mechanisms
when they are exposed to gender-based violence. Turkey is a home for the largest number of
Syrian refugees and has international commitments to prevent and combat violence against
women. Therefore, Turkey has the obligation of adhering to refugee-sensitive gender justice
effectively.
This thesis aims at researching experienced barriers of Syrian gender-based violence survivors
when accessing justice and make critical recommendations to State which would stem from
Turkey’s international obligations. For this purpose, the study investigated the socio-legal
situation of the target group by examining certain demographic data from Syria and Turkey
regarding Syrian women’s previous and current conditions. Moreover, the study also scrutinized
the legal framework which includes major international women’s rights treaties such as the
CEDAW, the Istanbul Convention, and the domestic legal framework of Turkey. Moreover, to
analyse the barriers to access to justice, the thesis introduced a fictitious domestic violence
survivor whose journey to access to justice is holistically scrutinized through both legal and
sociological lenses. The case study presented a wide range of difficulties for refugee women in
Turkey on the way to justice, however, the prominent difficulties are distilled and chosen to
investigate further.
Finally, this study concluded that Turkey has shortcomings in terms of removing the barriers to
access to justice for Syrian women and upholding its international commitments. Removing the
barriers will not be guaranteed without granting them legal status, ensuring the principle of nondiscrimination, removing the language barrier in the short and long term, shifting embedded
harmful cultural norms, and finally easing the political instabilities regarding the refugees and/or
women in its territory. Turkey must put effective effort to prevent and combat violence against
women. Therefore, the study recommends Turkey to take meaningful steps to combat
discrimination, create awareness on refugee women’s rights among refugee women, diminish
the language barrier between the survivors and State bodies. It is also very crucial that Turkey
stabilize its political position and regimes towards both refugee rights and women’s rights to
establish trust relation between gender-based violence survivors and the State mechanisms. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Yilmaz, Yagmur LU
supervisor
organization
course
JAMM07 20211
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Gender-based violence, GBV, Syrian, Temporary Protection, Refugee, Turkey, access to justice, barriers, women's rights, recommendations
language
English
id
9047727
date added to LUP
2021-06-01 15:09:48
date last changed
2021-06-01 15:09:48
@misc{9047727,
  abstract     = {{Gender-based violence survivors have barriers to access to justice around the globe. However,
States are responsible for removing those barriers and ensuring that everyone can access needed
services and justice without discrimination regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, race,
nationality, disability, or age. Turkey is no exception with its international commitments and
domestic laws to serve this purpose.
Refugee women are having numerous difficulties and disadvantages due to their gender, race,
and nationality while accessing support services, law enforcement, and judicial mechanisms
when they are exposed to gender-based violence. Turkey is a home for the largest number of
Syrian refugees and has international commitments to prevent and combat violence against
women. Therefore, Turkey has the obligation of adhering to refugee-sensitive gender justice
effectively.
This thesis aims at researching experienced barriers of Syrian gender-based violence survivors
when accessing justice and make critical recommendations to State which would stem from
Turkey’s international obligations. For this purpose, the study investigated the socio-legal
situation of the target group by examining certain demographic data from Syria and Turkey
regarding Syrian women’s previous and current conditions. Moreover, the study also scrutinized
the legal framework which includes major international women’s rights treaties such as the
CEDAW, the Istanbul Convention, and the domestic legal framework of Turkey. Moreover, to
analyse the barriers to access to justice, the thesis introduced a fictitious domestic violence
survivor whose journey to access to justice is holistically scrutinized through both legal and
sociological lenses. The case study presented a wide range of difficulties for refugee women in
Turkey on the way to justice, however, the prominent difficulties are distilled and chosen to
investigate further.
Finally, this study concluded that Turkey has shortcomings in terms of removing the barriers to
access to justice for Syrian women and upholding its international commitments. Removing the
barriers will not be guaranteed without granting them legal status, ensuring the principle of nondiscrimination, removing the language barrier in the short and long term, shifting embedded
harmful cultural norms, and finally easing the political instabilities regarding the refugees and/or
women in its territory. Turkey must put effective effort to prevent and combat violence against
women. Therefore, the study recommends Turkey to take meaningful steps to combat
discrimination, create awareness on refugee women’s rights among refugee women, diminish
the language barrier between the survivors and State bodies. It is also very crucial that Turkey
stabilize its political position and regimes towards both refugee rights and women’s rights to
establish trust relation between gender-based violence survivors and the State mechanisms.}},
  author       = {{Yilmaz, Yagmur}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Road to Justice: Syrian Gender-Based Violence Survivors and Turkey's International Obligations}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}