OneDayOneStruggle 2021

Every 9 November communities around the world come together in celebration of sexual and bodily rights as human rights, as part of the One Day One Struggle! campaign, coordinated by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR).

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose unprecedented challenges to all of us, 2021 has been a tough year for human rights movements, many of which face setbacks unique to their communities. In the spirit of acknowledging this struggle, for this year’s One Day One Struggle campaign, all member organizations will focus on themes that they deem important and most pressing respectively.

See a brief listing of the planned actions below, and keep up with us using on Twitter (@SexBodyRights, #OneDayOneStruggle), Instagram (@csbrsexbodyrights) and Facebook (facebook.com/CSBRonline) on November 9th for updates as the actions occur!


TURKEY

WWHR-New Ways and Kaos GL from Turkey, have been organizing these events since 2019 to emphasize the importance of the struggle of feminists and LGBTI+s together against anti-gender movements and discourses, and to develop new strategies.

This year, they wanted to consider all these debates which arose again around the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, and to rethink the concepts of gender and gender equality. For this purpose, their panel titled  “Gender: from Feminism to Queer Theory”, which will be online on November 9, will discuss how and when gender has become one of the key concepts of the LGBTI+ rights struggle, theoretical and historical transformations that paved the way for the emergence of trans exclusionary feminist views and their increasing visibility in years, the reflections of these debates in the feminist movement in Turkey, the historical alliances between the Turkey’s feminist and LGBTI+ movements and the possibilities of alliances in the near future. 

After the panel, they continue with an online party. 

The event will be Turkish. If you still want to participate, you can register via this link.

Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVzzJ9QgFV7/?utm_medium=share_sheet

BANGLADESH

Inclusive Bangladesh and its EQUAL partner organizations (Prantoz Foundation, Pothchola Hijra Shongho, and Shree) will be jointly celebrating this year’s ODOS, highlighting the day-to-day struggle of Non-Binary people in the context of Bangladesh. The celebration will be a month-long program where the organizations will hold online and offline events such as ten digital poster publications, one art campaign, one webinar with nonbinary people, and a virtual dance show. This year ODOS will be celebrated under the hashtag #DOTOKOTA, a Bengali term that reflects upon something that has the power of creation, mixing with others. This highlights the power of non-binary people who shades lights on the unknown aspects of diverse gender in one singular body.

Event logs will be available from 1st November onwards on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/INCLUSIVEBD/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/Inclusivebangla

INDONESIA

GAYa NUSANTARA Foundation, one of the first national LGBTIQ+ organisations in Indonesia, will be uploading 15 video/audio series of religious narrations delivered with love by young friends with Islamic & Christian backgrounds. They will be uploaded gradually through the GAYa NUSANTARA YouTube channel from November 8, 2021 to November 12, 2021.

Da’wah in Love, the title for this campaign, delivers religious narratives that calm, reassure and embrace diversity in gender and sexuality, so that religion can increasingly appear in a friendly face and uphold justice and equality for all mankind.

It is hoped that the doors of love or mercy can be opened wider in a religious framework that no longer judges, oppresses and hurts, but is instead open to accepting those who are often labeled as sinners and are limited in their safe spaces even in the context of religion which should be a place of worship and shade for sweat bearers; those who continue to be attacked and hated in such a way simply because they have a different sexual orientation, gender identity and expression or sex characteristics from the majority group.

Below is the list of the videos.

November 8, 2021

1) Developing Islam Rahmatan Lil Alamin – audio (Surya Alam Maulana);

2) Love Wins (Yasinta Fatmawati);

3) Creating a Safe Space for All (Agus R Nugraha);

November 9, 2021

4) Conversion Therapy: Coercion in the Name of God (Felix);

5) Religion and Justice for the Oppressed – audio (Miftahul Huda);

6) Judging Others (Amar Alfikar);

November 10, 2021

7) Gender Diversity in Religion (Ratna Triwulandari);

8) Highlighting Labeling of Gender Identity and Sexuality (Han);

9) Self-Acceptance as Part of Faith (Mohamad Safiq Niam);

11 November 2021

10) Religious Da’wah that Embraces not Clobbers (Ratna Dewi Palupi).

11) Religion and Humanity (Arimbi);

12) Worship in Diversity (Agetta Putri Awijaya).

12 November 2021

13) God’s Judgment Doesn’t See Gender Identity and Sexuality (Fikri Abdillah);

14) Gender and Sexuality Based Violence (Masruroh);

15) Interpreting the Story of the People of the Prophet of Lut or Sodom & Gomorrah – audio (Kelphin Jeremiah T)

Justice for Hande Kader

Logo for Web

31 August 2016

 

H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

President of the Republic of Turkey
T.C. Cumhurbaşkanlığı Genel Sekreterliği
06689 Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey
Tel: +90 312 525 5555
Fax: +90 312 525 583
Email: contact@tccb.gov.tr

 

Your excellency,

As members and allies of the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR), we are writing to call for justice, and to express our grief and despair, at the fate of Hande Kader, the 23 year-old transgender woman who was tortured, raped, and burned to death earlier this month.

Her body was found in Istanbul on 12 August 2016, and to our knowledge no effectual investigation has been made into her murder, and no steps taken by the authorities to bring the perpetrators of this unlawful act and violent crime to justice.

Hande Kader was a strong and outspoken young woman, who proudly worked for Turkish citizens to be able to exercise their inalienable civil, political and human rights. She earned a living as a sex worker. She is one of but too many Turkish citizens whose bodily integrity and lives have been brutally violated and cut short, by people whose bigotry and fear has manifested in unacceptable violence against women, violence against transgender youth, and violence against those who speak up for justice.

As many in the international community are asking, we ask you now, ‘how is beating, raping and burning someone to death more acceptable than being transgender?’ #HandeKadereSesVer

According to a civil society report, Turkey has the highest rate of reported murders of transgender persons in Europe, and the 9th highest rate of reported murder of transgender persons in the world.[1]

There is never an excuse for violence against women, and violent hate crimes cannot continue with impunity.

In 2012, Turkey took a historic step in being the first country to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which explicitly includes gender identity as categories of non-discrimination under Art. 4(3). It is the obligation of the state to fully address violence against women in all its forms and to take measures to prevent violence against women, protect its victims, and prosecute the perpetrators.

In accordance with Turkey’s commitments under the Istanbul Convention, we ask you:

  • To publicly denounce the rape, torture and murder of Hande Kader, and ensure a full, effective investigation into her murder and the prosecution of the perpetrators;
  • To ensure effective investigations of all reported gender-based hate-crimes in Turkey, including by allocating adequate resources and trainings to investigating agencies;
  • To regularly run awareness-raising campaigns on prevention of violence and discrimination against transgender women and women sex workers, with effective collaboration from civil society groups;
  • To consistently monitor, collect and publish statistical data on the number of complaints of violence against transgender women and women sex workers, the responses from the authorities to each complaint, and the results and redress available in each investigation of a complaint;
  • To take all administrative measures to strengthen legal protections to prevent discrimination and violence against transgender women and women sex workers, in consultation with Turkish civil society groups.

Hande Kader and all young women have the right to live their lives free from violence. We ask you to take action today to uphold that right.

We thank you for your attention and look forward to your response.

 

Yours sincerely,

Rima Athar
Coordinator, Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR)

Ahlem Belhaj
Chairwoman, Association Tunisienne des Femmes Démocrates (ATFD), Tunisia

Dede Oetomo
Founder & Trustee, GAYa NUSANTARA Foundation, Indonesia

Evelyne Accad
Professeur Emerite, University of Illinois & Lebanese American University, Lebanon

Isabelita Antonio
Executive Director, PILIPINA Legal Resources Center, Philippines

Najma Kousri Labidi
Co-Coordinator, Commission on Sexual & Reproductive Rights, ATFD, Tunisia

Nursyahbani Katjasungkana
National Coordinator, Indonesian Women′s Association for Justice (APIK), Indonesia

Saskia E. Wieringa
Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Şehnaz Kıymaz Bahçeci
Executive Board Member, Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways, Turkey

Tahir Khilji
Executive Director, VISION, Pakistan

 

Kaos Gey ve Lezbiyen Kültürel Araştırmalar ve Dayanışma Derneği

Flu Baykuş

SPOD Sosyal Politikalar Cinsiyet Kimliği ve Cinsel Yönelim Çalışmaları Derneği

Pembe Hayat LGBTT Derneği

Hevi LGBTI Derneği

Mersin LGBT 7 Renk Eğitim ve Araştırma Derneği

Kırmızı Şemsiye Cinsel Sağlık ve İnsan Hakları Derneği

Ah Tamara LGBTI Wan

Istanbul LGBTI Dayanışma Derneği

T-Kulüp (Transmaskülen Kültür Üretim Platformu)

Trabzon Mor Balık

HDK LGBTİ Meclisi

LGBTİ Barış Girişimi

 
CC:

H.E. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim
Office of the Prime Minister
Başbakanlık, 06573 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: +90 312 417 0476

Women’s Status General Director Gülser Ustaoğlu
T.C. Aile ve Sosyal Politikalar Bakanlığı
Eskişehir Yolu Söğütözü Mahallesi 2177.Sokak No:10/A
Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey
Email: gulser.ustaoglu@aile.gov.tr
Fax: +90 (312) 705 53 49

[1] See http://transrespect.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/TvT_TMM_IDAHOT2016_Tables_EN.pdf, and http://dagmedya.net/2016/08/16/dunyadaki-trans-cinayetleri-verileriturkiye-trans-cinayetinde-avrupada-1-sirada-dunyada-9/

****

PDF of Letter sent to H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, H.E. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, and Women’s Status General Director Gülser Ustaoğlu: http://www.csbronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CSBR_JusticeforHandeKader_31Aug2016-1.pdf

Resistance in the face of police violence at Istanbul Pride 2015

Police attacked the LGBTI Pride Parade with water cannon and tear gas to disperse the participants at Istanbul Pride on Sunday 28 June 2015.

onuryuruyusu15

The participants as well as journalists were exposed to violence, the disproportionate use of tear gas, and arbitrary detention by Turkey’s police forces. MPs from the CHP and HDP resisted together against the police attack. Despite of the police violence, rainbow flags were waived everywhere in Beyoğlu Street.

Turkish police fired water cannon and rubber pellets to disperse a crowd gathered around the LGBTI Pride Parade by using the month of Ramadan as an “excuse”.

A similar parade occurred peacefully in Istanbul without any incident last year during the month of Ramadan.

Pride Parade participants chanted slogans like “legs to shoulders against fascism”, “don’t keep silent, shout it out, gays exist”, “Police, prostitute yourself and live proudly” against police brutality.

onuryuruyusu15_13

Just before the Parade, Kaos GL and Bianet editors were about to be taken into custody while recording police violence.


Cyber attacks to KaosGL.org

When police was attacking to pride participants, KaosGL.org faced cyber attacks. Could not access the site long time, technical difficulties continued until late at night.

U.S. Consul General in Istanbul Charles F. Hunter, MPs Filiz Kerestecioğlu, Beyza Üstün and Sezai Temelli from the HDP and MPs Sezgin Tanrıkulu and Mahmut Tanal from the CHP and Beşiktaş Mayor Murat Hazinedar were also in Taksim. MPs from the HDP and CHP formed a human chain to prevent riot police from attacking the participant of the Parade. They resisted against homophobia together.

The 23rd Istanbul LGBTI Pride Committee released an announcement and urged the participants to remain in place!

The announcement is as follows:

The 13th Istanbul LGBTI Pride Parade scheduled to take place at 17:00 in Taksim has suddenly been banned by the Governorate, using the month of Ramadan as an excuse, without any announcement.

The police is attacking tens of thousands of people with pepper spray, plastic bullets, and water cannon.

All entrances and exits to and from Taksim and Istiklal Street have been shut down.

We call on the Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin to adhere to the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, to immediately cease the attacks, and to make a public statement.

All Pride Parade participants are urged to remain in place and not leave Beyoglu until the walk can be started as planned.

People who believe in a free world but could not make it to Taksim: we invite you to make some noise with pots & pans or whatever you find, whereever you are, at 6pm.

WE ARE HERE, GET USED TO IT, WE ARE NOT LEAVING!

Love wins!

#GelYanima #JoinUs

The police did not allow the Pride Parade participants to make a press release at first, and then the participants walked through the Tunnel Square and were able to make a press release in such unfair conditions.

onuryuruyusu15_22


Participants walked to the Tünel Square, Police didn’t allow for press statement

At 19:00, Pride Parade participants walked into a crowd of police barricades and police opened the Tünel Square. In a press statement; Committee highlighted police attack. Police didn’t allow the full press statement.

5 LGBT individuals were attacked by unidentified persons. Nose of one of LGBT activists and hip of one activist were broken.

Police also continued to attack the night after the party.

Despite the ongoing police attack rainbow flags waved in all the streets of Beyoğlu all day!


Photos: Barış Paksoy Docu News Agency

Reposted from: KAOS-GL

LGBTI People Gain Ground on Rights Advocacy in Turkish Parliamentary Elections

LGBTI Rights Turkey

June 10, 2015 (New York)- The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) welcomes the results of the June 7 parliamentary election in Turkey, which has seated an unprecedented 22 outspoken advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights. These new members of Parliament are allies of the LGBTI community who have signed a pledge to support LGBTI rights.

“The fact that Turkey’s population has elected 22 acknowledged advocates for LGBTI rights is a tremendous victory,” said Hossein Alizadeh, a program coordinator for IGLHRC, which works closely with LGBTI partner organizations in Turkey. “It is particularly important in a political landscape that recently has been quite conservative and where some high-level politicians have rejected even basic rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

While Turkey does not criminalize same-sex sexual relationships, and LGBTI groups are allowed to operate legally, social discrimination and rights violations against individuals suspected of being gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual, or who otherwise do not conform to prevailing gender norms, are a regular occurrence in the country. The authorities have so far ignored demands from international bodies, including the United Nations and the European Union, to recognize rights and protect LGBTI people against discrimination and abuse based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In the months leading up to the election, LGBTI organizations and activists across Turkey came together to launch a national campaign entitled “LGBTI in the Parliament” (Mecliste LGBTİ), urging parliamentary candidates to sign a pledge to support LGBTI rights in Turkey. In total, 64 candidates signed the pledge in the days leading up to the June 7 election. Twenty-two of those who signed the pledge were elected as members of Parliament. Seven of those who publically committed to LGBTI rights are from the liberal Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and 15 of them represent the secularist Republican’s People Party (CHP) from across the country.

“Despite former Prime Minister Davutoglu and current President Erdoğan’s public statements against the involvement of LGBTI organizations in the election campaign, including the candidacy of Baris Sulu, a LGBTI rights activist from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the election results proved that homophobic and transphobic statements do not have any negative impacts on the voting behavior of the constituents.” said Volkan Yilmaz, the head of the Executive Board of the Social Policies, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD), one of Turkey’s leading LGBTI organizations. Yilmaz added, “Thanks to the ‘LGBTI in the Parliament’ campaign as well as the efforts of LGBTI rights activists in different political parties, we have now at least 22 MPs in the new Parliament who have declared their commitment to LGBTI rights.”

Two days before the election at a campaign rally, for example, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said homosexuals were the “representatives of sedition.”

In Sunday’s election, the main opposition group, the secularist Republican’s People Party secured 132 votes in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (the Turkish Parliament), while in a landslide victory, the liberal Peoples’ Democratic Party succeeded in occupying 82 seats in the Parliament. HDP has a long history of supporting LGBTI rights in Turkey, with the leader of the party, Selahattin Demirtas, an open advocate for LGBT rights, both during this election and back in August 2014, when he ran as one of the three contenders for the Presidential election. In recent years, CHP has also been vocal in supporting equal rights and protections for the LGBTI community, with the leader of the party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, recently supporting same-sex partnership, arguing that “nobody can interfere with anybody’s [private] life.”

Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-430-6018, strimel@iglhrc or
Hossein Alizadeh, 212-430-6016 halizadeh@iglhrc.org

Source: ILGHRC

Turkey: Say No to Abortion Ban!

TO THE POLICIES OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND THE GOVERNMENT OF TURKEY THAT TARGET GENDER EQUALITY, WOMEN’S BODIES, REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND SEXUALITY, OUR RESPONSE IS A RESOUNDING “NO!”

We demand that the process to ban abortion be ceased IMMEDIATELY!

Banning abortion or further limiting the duration and conditions under which it can be performed;

  • Violates women’s human right to health and life!
  • Violates women’s human right to make decisions about their own sexual and reproductive health and rights!
  • Constitutes yet another manifestation of the conservative politics that does not view women as equal individuals!

Prime Minister Erdogan’s statements in the last week of May 2012 have revealed that plans to ban abortion have been underway for some time now. Experience from the global arena illustrates that this lethal attempt, which has no scientific backing, will not reduce abortion rates; instead it will only lead to unsafe abortions and increase maternal mortality.

ABORTION IS NOT MURDER, BUT BANNING ABORTION IS!

FREELY CHOSEN SAFE ABORTION IS A WOMAN’S RIGHT TO LIFE; IT CANNOT BE RESTRICTED, IT CANNOT BE BANNED!

According to data from the World Health Organization, tens of women across the world die every year as a result of unsafe abortions. In Turkey, establishing the legal grounds for women to end unwanted pregnancies on demand has contributed to the decrease in maternal mortality, which dropped from 250 to 28 in every 100,000 live births from the 1970s to the mid-2000s. There is no data indicating that abortion is on the rise in Turkey; on the contrary, while 18 pregnancies out of 100 ended in abortion in 1993, this ratio was down to 10 percent in 2008. In an era where 26 countries have taken steps to remove obstacles that hinder access to abortion between 1994 and 2011, efforts to ban or restrict it in Turkey are unacceptable. Restricting the right to access safe abortion services and making them available only when required by medical conditions or instances of rape works to marginalize women’s fundamental bodily and sexual rights, and reduces the enjoyment of this right to circumstances of necessity.

We object to risking women’s rights to health and life by restricting or banning abortion instead of encouraging free, easily accessible, high quality birth control methods. Abortion is not only a freedom of choice, but a vital social right. The right to abortion that is on demand, free-of-charge, accessible, safe, and legal, is also a right to life. Forcing women to take life-threatening risks is nothing short of murder.

THE RIGHT TO SAFE ABORTION IS AN INDIVISIBLE PART OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS TO MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT THEIR BODILY AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS!

Women’s right to sexual and reproductive health includes having control over their own bodies and access to safe abortion; limiting these rights is an open violation of fundamental human rights and women’s human rights. In accordance with its domestic legislation and the international conventions it is party to, Turkey is under obligation to provide adequate, comprehensive, and accessible sexual and reproductive health services. In Turkey, child marriages, forced marriages, women’s murders, rapes, and morality-based repression mechanisms have all become normalized. The responsibility for birth control has been left primarily to women. However, in a country where contraceptives are not easily accessible, withdrawal is the most prevalent form of birth control, female employment rates continue to drop and female poverty is rapidly increasing, restricting or banning women’s right to on demand pregnancy termination is an act of blatant discrimination that will push women to seek unsafe abortions.

WE REJECT THE ATTACKS ON HUMAN RIGHTS THROUGH MILITARIST AND DISCRIMINATORY DISCOURSES AND PRACTICES!

By saying “Every abortion is an Uludere,” PM Erdogan equated women’s enjoyment of their bodily rights with killing people in a bombardment attack. This is a discriminatory and militarist statement that calls to question the human rights of both Kurds and women, whereas the primary responsibility of any state should be to ensure its citizens lead a decent life, and to guarantee equal rights and freedoms to all.

According to Article 16.1.e of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women-to which Turkey is a proud signatory-women have the right to “decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children.” The current governmental initiative to ban abortion is simply another manifestation of the ongoing misogynist mentality that ignores women’s right to make decisions on matters that concern their bodies, sees women’s primary reason for existence as the continuation of the species, and constructs neoliberal population policies based on women’s bodies.

A decision to ban abortion will constitute an open violation of the right to life for millions of women, and the right to live with dignity for men, women, and children alike.

We, the undersigned organizations, demand that the process initiated to ban abortion and the politics of the Prime Minister and the Government of Turkey that target women’s bodies be ceased IMMEDIATELY!