Women Want Peace!
1 March 2024
The Human Rights Association will be organizing its “Peace Vigil” activities with the slogan “Women Want Peace” on the occasion of 8 March International Women’s Day.
As human rights defenders, we have always expressed that peace is a right, especially considering that we live in a region of conflict. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Right to Peace on 19 December 2016. The United Nations Human Rights Council resolution of 22 June 2017 reminded member states that the “right to peace” should be supported. Wanting peace was defined as a right. It was determined that defending peace was a human right.
The demand for peace is also highly related to civil and political rights; the right to life, the prohibition of torture, the right to liberty and security of person, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion and conscience, freedom of expression and freedom of association. İHD has, thus, always recognized that peace is based on human rights and human freedoms.
The lands we live in is where many different ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural identities co-exist. The official ideology in Turkey is based on the Turkish and Sunni Muslim identity and has created a political system following this ideology. For this reason, different ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural identities have always had problems in our lands; they have either been destroyed, assimilated or faced destruction. It is, therefore, very clear that “peace” is an important demand for rights in our geography.
On the Kurdish issue, which is the main issue in our lands, the Turkish state has so far adopted the method of conflict against dialogue and negotiation. With the state’s preference for conflict and war, violence has come to the forefront in an environment of oppression, accompanied by the development of the language of hate, the increase in violence against women, and the failure to prevent femicides can only be explained by this environment of violence.
Unfortunately, wars continue in many parts of the world today.
On 7 October 2023, we are once again witnessing that in the wars and military operations carried out by the State of Israel in the Palestinian territories, women are being subjected to multidimensional violations of rights, especially violations of the right to life. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the civil war in Libya, the civil war in Syria, the conflict in Rojava… These wars and conflicts show that the UN has failed to fulfill its duty to ensure peace and therefore wars and conflicts continue. Unfortunately, women and children suffer the most in these lands.
Women have faced sexual violence and sexual torture in all wars. However, it has been too late to recognize these as war crimes. Especially in World War I and World War II, many women were victims of sexual assault and lost their lives. Violence against women was not considered a war crime in the Tokyo and Nuremberg Tribunals established after these wars. However, after the Bosnian War, violence against women started to be considered a war crime as a result of women’s struggles.
Thousands of women have been victimized due to the war and conflict in our lands. Women are subjected to gross violence in house raids, village raids, in detention centers or prisons. The act of violence and the language of violence used by the state cause male-dominated violence to become widespread in society, and for this reason, homes, streets, and workplaces everywhere are unsafe environments for women.
There has been a migration of refugees because of the war in Syria. The Republic of Turkey’s geographical limitation to the Refugee Convention and the widespread racism in society cause asylum-seeking women to face great problems and to be exposed to violence.
In such an environment of conflict, women have no choice but to demand peace. The Human Rights Association has always defended the right to peace and worked to be the pioneer of many peaceful struggles. It has organized many events for peace over the years. Now we are holding a “Peace Vigil.” In peace vigils, we express that peace is a very important human right and should be recognized as a fundamental right. We have decided to crown these peace vigils with a Peace Conference. At the Peace Conference we will organize in Amed on March 16 and 17, we will once again and loudly voice our demands for peace. The majority of these voices will be women.
Once again, on the eve of March 8, International Women’s Day, we wish for a new process to begin in which violence against women is completely eliminated and the male-dominated, feudal and militant system is questioned. Therefore, we want our Peace Conference to be a pioneer for these demands.
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION