Human Rights Litigation Support Group for Turkey
Middlesex Law School is launching a project aimed at providing support to lawyers and civil society organisations on the front line of defending human rights in Turkey.
Middlesex Law School is launching a project to support lawyers and civil society organisations that defend human rights in Turkey.
Professor Philip Leach, Professor of Human Rights Law and EHRAC Director, will lead a team of academics, human rights lawyers, and researchers. The team will create a support network and legal resources for Turkish litigators. It will also take strategic cases to international human rights courts in response to the human rights crisis in Turkey.
Basic human rights are being systematically violated, while protections are gradually being eroded. Human rights defenders are increasingly unable to operate within Turkey.
The project will use strategic litigation to counter these trends. It will also provide much-needed support to lawyers and civil society groups in Turkey.
The project will support human rights lawyers and NGOs in Turkey to bring cases before the European Court of Human Rights and other international fora. It will also make strategic interventions that expose the deteriorating situation and seek to influence the international response.
The project will work with bar associations, universities, local lawyer groups, national and international NGOs, victims’ associations, and other organisations. These partnerships will support the exchange of relevant knowledge, skills, and resources needed to challenge violations by state officials.
Our objectives
- To support domestic human rights advocates and groups, and build their legal capacity to use domestic and international remedies effectively
- To provide advice and support to advocates working in Turkey
- To use national and international human rights mechanisms to improve access to justice and obtain justice
- To increase international and regional awareness of the current situation.
Our partners
The project aims to work with bar associations, universities, local lawyer groups, national and international NGOs, victims’ associations, and other stakeholders. These partnerships will support the exchange of relevant knowledge and practices needed to challenge violations by state officials.
Publications
- State of Emergency in Turkey; A Collection of Available Resources, Reports, Case Law, and other Relevant Materials (August 2018)
- Expert Opinion on Ayse Celik Case Concerning Freedom of Expression; Turkish Human Rights Litigation Support Project Expert Opinion, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Turkey (2018).
The Turkish Human Rights Litigation Support Project team drafted an expert opinion and submitted it to the Turkish Constitutional Court. The application concerned the right to freedom of expression of Ayse Celik, a teacher who received a prison sentence for a statement she made on a television programme.
In the expert opinion, the team examines international law standards relevant to the criminalisation and prosecution of crimes of expression. It sets out the European and international legal standards that govern freedom of expression. It also explains the exceptional circumstances in which restrictions on free expression may be justified.
The expert opinion highlights certain features of the crime of propagandising for a terrorist organisation under Article 7(2) of the Anti-Terror Law of Turkey. It aims to help the Constitutional Court assess whether the lower court’s decision is consistent with the Turkish State’s international human rights obligations and generally accepted principles of criminal law.