The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has raised alarm over Turkey’s deteriorating human rights record in its recent submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
HRF criticized ongoing judicial harassment, restrictions on social media and the erosion of democratic institutions in Turkey, calling for urgent reforms.
The HRF report emphasized Turkey’s high rate of imprisonment, noting that it leads among Council of Europe countries in terms of prisoners and detainees.
The overcrowding in Turkey’s prisons has been a growing issue since 2005, with prison populations swelling annually. As of April 1, 2024 the number of inmates and convicts stood at 322,780, significantly exceeding the capacity of 295,702 across 403 penal institutions. The 2023 CoE Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations report stresses that despite an early parole law passed by the Turkish parliament, the prison population rebounded sharply, increasing by 71,679 in just seven months.
HRF’s submission highlighted the particularly harsh treatment of Kurdish speakers, who face disproportionate rates of torture and ill-treatment in custody. It also drew attention to Turkey’s inadequate response to femicide and violence against women, children and gender minorities, stressing the need for independent investigations and stronger protections. HRF also called on Turkey to ratify the Istanbul Convention, strengthen measures to combat violence against women and introduce legislation to address hate crimes.
Femicides and violence against women are serious problems in Turkey, where women are killed, raped or beaten almost every day. Many critics say the main reason behind the situation is the policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which protects violent and abusive men by granting them impunity.
According to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, between 2010 and 2024, 4,255 cases of femicide have occurred. Furthermore, suspicious deaths of women have increased by 82 percent in the last seven years. Since Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty aimed at combating domestic violence, in 2021, there has been an increase in the number of women killed by men.
HRF urged the Turkish government to safeguard the rights of activists, journalists and opposition groups as well as LGBTQ+ organizations, allowing them to operate freely and without fear of reprisal.
Although homosexuality has been legal throughout modern Turkey’s history, gay people regularly face harassment and abuse.
It is common for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other politicians from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to attack LGBTQ people and accuse them of perversion and ruining family values. He also made anti-LGBTQ propaganda a central part of his re-election campaign in May 2023.
Turkey was ranked 46th among 49 countries as regards the human rights of LGBT people, according to the 2024 Rainbow Europe Map published by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)-Europe in May.
HRF’s appeal is part of a broader effort to bring international attention to the shrinking space for civil liberties in Turkey, urging the UN and other member states to hold the Turkish government accountable during the UPR process.
