GENERAL INFORMATION
 

Project title
 

ENHANCING THE PROTECTIVE MEASURES FOR WOMEN SUBJECTED TO VIOLENCE

Priority area
 

Gender Equality

Beneficiary

Ministry of Family and Social Policies

Co-Beneficiary
 

Duration

Duration: 9 Months

Start: 13/10/2014

End: 31/07/2015

EU contribution (Euro)

€ 2,905,882

PROJECT SUMMARY

Brief description of the project and main objectives
 

Violence against women stands out as a crucial issue, both worldwide and in Turkey. National and international strategies prioritise the preventive measures to be taken against violence and relevant legislation to be enforced accordingly.

In Turkey, work on combatting violence against women has been institutionalised in the late 1980s and was continued in line with the Prime Ministerial Circular issued in 2006 which has been a roadmap for inter-institutional cooperation. From the year 2000 onwards, the principle of gender equality has been prioritised starting with the Constitution and relevant legislation, which have resulted in the adoption of the “0 tolerance” principle for violence against women.

The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combatting Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), which entered into force on 1 August 2014, establishes internationally accepted standards for relevant legislation on domestic violence. Turkey was the first country to ratify this Convention and did so without reservations in March 2012. On the other hand, domestic violence, honour-based violence, honour killings and the issue of early and forced marriages still remain serious concerns. The World Economic Forum’s “2014 Global Gender Gap Index Report”, quantifying the magnitude of gender-based disparities, having ranked Turkey 125th out of 142 nations in 2013, confirms the importance of the issue to be on the national agenda. Findings of various national researches and studies conducted recently also confirm that numbers/rates of women subjected to emotional, physical or sexual violence and abuse remain high.

The National Action Plan to Combat Violence Against Women 2012-2015 of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies (MoFSP) addresses this problem as a multi-dimensional matter, combatting of which requires a holistic approach to involve all relevant parties to act jointly and decisively. The Plan identifies the five key areas to enhance gender equality and to combat violence against women as: legislative arrangements, awareness raising, preventive services and supporting the victims of violence, provision of health services and inter-institutional cooperation. The project is one of the many EU funded interventions addressing the issue of violence against women. It is implemented by the Ministry of Family and Social Policies through a service (framework) and supply contracts.
 

Location

Achievements / expected outputs

Result 1: Pursuant to Article 12 of the Law No. 6284, a survey was carried out concerning the nationwide implementation of the technical surveillance application and more effective protection was ensured for the victims.

Result 2: Vehicles were purchased for the shelters in 81 provinces and the service quality was improved in terms of safe transportation of female victims or potential victims to any services they would need.