Press Release: There should be “zero tolerance” in combatting sexual harassment
Awareness and Confidence Raising Workshop, organized by Aydın Doğan Foundation, Hürriyet Daily and UN Women in collaboration with Fitside and Boğaziçi University brought together young women, the civil society and the media to emphasize that violence against women and girls could be prevented with a “zero tolerance” approach. During the event that took place on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the participants drew attention to the existing deficiencies in combatting violence against women and urged young women that when faced with sexual harassment, rape or abuse, they should speak up, be self-confident and apply to the emergency hotlines as well as to service providers and institutions working in this field.Date:
25 November 2017, İstanbul – Organized by Aydın Doğan Foundation, Hürriyet Daily and UN Women in collaboration with Fitside and Boğaziçi University, the Awareness and Confidence Raising Workshop was carried out at Boğaziçi University with the participation of young women, experts, media and representatives of civil society organizations working in the field of combatting violence against women.
During the event, speeches were delivered by the Executive Director of Aydın Doğan Foundation Candan Fetvacı, UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia a.i. and Representative to Turkey a.i. Alia El-Yassir, Vice Rector of Boğaziçi University Prof. Zeynep Atay, President of the Federation of Women Associations of Turkey Canan Güllü, Prof. Ayşen Ufuk Sezgin and Founder of Fitside Personal Training Uğur Özgür. The participants stressed that violence against women and girls could only be prevented with a zero-tolerance approach and urged young women and girls that when faced with sexual harassment, rape or abuse they should speak up, be self-confident, apply to the service providers and institutions working in this field to get legal and psychological support and call the emergency hotlines.
Furthermore, in order to boost their self-confidence against sexual harassment in public places, trainers from Fitside Personal Training, Murat Şinikçi and Birol Keçebaş provided the participating young women with information on the physiological changes that occur in our body when faced with violence and harassment, how we can cope with these and the escape techniques that could be used when violence or harassment occurs.
The event took place within the framework of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, an international campaign that aims to raise awareness about the issue of violence against women and girls around the world. The campaign runs every year from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day.
This year, under the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign, self-defense, awareness and confidence raising workshops are being organized in 16 countries for young women aged 16 to 30 years. The workshops are organized by Sayfty, an Indian civil society organization working in the field of combatting violence against women and girls, UN Women and the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development’s Working Group on Youth and Gender Equality and other partnering organizations. And from Turkey, İstanbul and Gaziantep cities are participating in this global event. Countries listed among the 16 countries include Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa and the United States of America.
3,700 organizations from 164 countries participate in the campaign each year with the goal of raising awareness on violence against women and girls and contributing to change. This year’s theme, “Leave No One Behind: End Violence Against Women and Girls” emphasizes the importance of reaching the most disadvantaged and marginalized women and girls in the society.
In her speech, the Executive Director of Aydın Doğan Foundation Candan Fetvacı said: “As the Aydın Doğan Foundation, we believe that we need to confront all problems that are related to and that target women, through education. For that reason, for more than two decades, education has been one of the priority areas in which our Foundation provides support. We have projects that reach out to all segments of the society, especially girls. In recent years, we launched exciting new initiatives to raise awareness on “women’s empowerment in the society”, which is one of the most important issues of our era. We carry out activities that help and guide girls to be raised as strong and grounded women of the future. We have a long road ahead, however, we stand determined. We continue marching on this path with confident steps.”
UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia a.i. and Representative to Turkey a.i. Alia El-Yassir said: “Every woman and girl has the right to live her life without the threat of violence Yet, one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some point in her lifetime. Addressing the root causes of violence, ending impunity for perpetrators and increasing the political, economic and social empowerment of women and girls are key to reducing their risk to violence. Ending violence against women also requires legal measures and policies and quality responses and services for survivors, such as timely healthcare, police and justice responses, emergency hotlines and safe accommodation and psycho-social counselling, to be implemented intensely.
UN Women has been at the forefront of efforts to end discrimination and violence against women and girls. This year, we’ve started a new regional programme to focus on ending discrimination and violence against women in the Western Balkans and Turkey, funded by the European Union. As part of this program, we will work in partnership with the Turkish Government and civil society organizations and advocate for preventive measures against violence and for the transformation of legal frameworks. We will also support the provision of comprehensive services for women and girls who are survivors of violence and the activities to make sure that the perpetrators of violence are punished. Apart from these efforts, we will combat deep-rooted discriminative attitudes through awareness campaigns, social dialogue and other advocacy activities. In order to promote gender equality and a culture of zero tolerance to violence in the society, we aim at changing the norms in a positive direction and move forward towards ending violence against women and girls.”
Talking about what women need to do when faced with violence, Prof. Ayşen Ufuk Sezgin illustrated the issue by giving examples and said, “If you are going out at night, make sure to inform your friends, establish a network of people you can contact in case of an emergency, people you can speed dial on your phone to let them know that you are in trouble, people who know where you are and who will be able to help you.” Sezgin continued,“We have to trust our instincts. If you don’t feel comfortable in an environment, if you feel like something is wrong, something is bothering you, you should definitely leave that place. You should always have some cash in your pocket so that you can immediately call a taxi.”
“We have the Istanbul Convention which we see as a protective shield on our back”
Stating that as they are an umbrella organization operating an emergency hotline in Turkey, they are mainly involved in the legal dimension of the process related to incidents of violence, the President of the Federation of Women Associations of Turkey Canan Güllü said, “In this framework, from our own perspective, we bring a three-pillar process on the prevention of violence. First one is the education and learning process as we call it, the second is the policy-making processes of governments and the third one is women’s civil society organizations, which we believe are powerful and well-grounded in this part of the world. We have the Istanbul Convention which we see as a protective shield on our back.”
Vice Rector of Boğaziçi University Prof. Zeynep Atay stated that as Boğaziçi University, they were extremely happy and proud to be hosting such an event on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.