Ten human rights and women’s rights NGO members including our feminist fellow İlknur Üstün were detained by the police during a raid directed to a meeting on digital security and human rights.
İlknur Üstün was at the said meeting to represent Women’s Coalition, which is a network that struggles for the equal participation of women in social and political life and which also includes Mor Çatı as a component. She has also worked in many humanistic areas including the struggle with violence against women and contributed a great deal to women’s studies.
We regretfully condemn that our friends making efforts for advocacy and the empowerment of civil society have been detained and their access to their connections, lawyers and their means for informing the public were restricted throughout the detention. The detained human rights advocates were labeled as “spies” and it was alleged that they were holding a “secret meeting” in some of the media organs. Such denigrations are, in fact, the usual attempts to criminalize human rights advocates and an assault against their basic rights and freedoms including the rights to hold meetings and to organize, through the use of media power.
We call for an immediate termination of custodies, detentions, bans and shut-downs against women’s organizations and against those who struggle for human rights and gender equality and an end to the policies of oppression!
Mor Çatı community stands with their fellows and speaks up for human rights struggle!
In these days of attacks at human and women’s rights, we need your support more than ever. Please do not hesitate to share and take action.
Mor Çatı Women’s Shelter Foundation