Imprisonment of Minors in Turkey

The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers is deeply concerned at reports (The Guardian, 1st Feb 2010) that a 15-year-old girl, a Turkish Kurd, named Berivan, has been jailed in Turkey for nearly eight years after being convicted of "terrorist" offences. She was arrested at a demonstration in the south-eastern city of Batman in October 2009. The 13-and-a-half-year sentence originally imposed on her was later reduced on appeal to seven years and nine months because of her age. She was found guilty of "crimes on behalf of an illegal organisation" after prosecutors alleged she had hurled stones and shouted slogans. She was also convicted of attending "meetings and demonstrations in opposition to the law" and "spreading propaganda for an illegal organisation". There are substantial concerns as to the fairness of her trial and conviction.

The Society understands that under counter-terrorism legislation introduced in 2006, Turkey has been trying juveniles as adults, and jailing them for up to 50 years. Recent official figures have revealed that there are currently 2,622 minors in Turkish prisons. According to the Diyarbakir Human Rights Association, some 737 minors have been charged under the counter-terrorism legislation since its introduction. Out of 267 tried in Diyarbakir last year, 78 were given extended jail terms.

According to the European Court of Human Rights, between 1959 and 2009 Turkey was the worst violator of the European Convention on Human Rights, with almost 19% of all violations, and 2,295 judgements issued against it. Turkey also had the highest proportion of violations in 2009, with 347 out of 1,625 negative rulings. The right most commonly violated was the right to a fair trial. Turkey was also condemned in 30 cases of inhumane or degrading treatment.

Turkey ratified the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 4 April 1995. Berivan is a “child”, whose rights are protected by this Convention. Article 37 (c) of the CRC provides that

“(b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time;”

The Society considers that an 8 year sentence on conviction for the crimes reported is grossly disproportionate, and appears to be a violation of Turkey’s treaty obligations under the CRC.

Statement in Support of Climate Defenders

As practising lawyers committed to the promotion and protection of human rights, we are deeply disturbed at reports of excessive use of force and arbitrary mass arrests of climate activists by police during the course of the peaceful climate demonstration in Copenhagen on Saturday 12 December.

Both the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee the right to freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and the rights to receive and impart information. We urge the Danish Government to uphold those rights and to support the just demands of civil society for climate justice.

We refer to the article by Dirk Voorhoof below.

"Copenhagen police actions in total disrespect of fundamental human rights"
15-12-2009 15:51:08
I'm a law professor from Belgium, teaching at Copenhagen University, Law Faculty. This semester I've introduced the European standards and values on freedom of expression, democracy and human rights to visiting students. In class we have highlighted the standards in Scandinavian countries on these matters. Denmark is a good example on how freedom of expression is guaranteed according to human rights' principles. The last days in Copenhagen I have, beside my work at university, participated in some events related to the Climate Conference. I'm impressed by the commitment of the whole Danish Society in the actual climate policy debate.

The events of Saturday 12 December 2009, and more precisely the absolute unacceptable way the Danish police treated and arrested nearly 1000 demonstrators during the Climate demonstration, have shocked me. I have seen a lot of people being inhumanly treated by the police, being kept for hours pushed on the ground in the middle of the streets on a cold winter evening. It was obvious that hundreds of them had done nothing wrong, except from just being there, participating in the demonstration.

It is necessary and appreciated that the police isolates and arrests violent activists, but the intervention by the police forces at Amagerbrogade and the arrest of hundreds of innocent demonstrators was out of proportion. The police action was in total disrespect of the principles in the European Convention of Human Rights.

How can Denmark be an example to the rest of the world when so many people participating in a peaceful demonstration coming up for a sustainable development of the planet are inhumanly treated and arrested as criminals by the police forces?

Tomorrow I will leave Denmark for a while, hoping that when I come back around Christmas the Danish political authorities explicitly have condemned the police actions during the Climate demonstration of Saturday 12 December, unworthy for a democracy.

If the Danish authorities take no clear action against the police interventions of last Saturday, Denmark will undoubtedly loose credibility in the international human rights' community. A society that leaves a too big gap between the theory and practice of human rights cannot uphold the perception of being truly committed to these values and principles.

Author: Dirk VOORHOOF