Infographics released on the website of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) have revealed widespread rights violations suffered by human rights activists in 2020, Turkish Minute reported.
Prepared with support from the European Union within the framework of the Hrant Dink Foundation’s Grant Program, the infographics describe the human rights scene in Turkey in 2020 in light of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
Seventeen human rights defenders were tried in 2020, with seven of them sentenced to 24 years, three months in prison, according to the infographics prepared by the TİHV Documentation Center.
According to the documents, 324 members and executives of human rights organizations were taken into custody and 90 of them were arrested in 2020. Turkish authorities blocked 10 events on women’s and LGBTI+ rights, banning four others and ordering police interventions in 18 gatherings and demonstrations in which 164 people were forcibly taken into custody while numerous people were fined.
The TİHV further revealed that the police intervened in 19 gatherings and demonstration on environmental and urban rights, forcibly detaining 84 people.
It is a right “freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms” as enshrined in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the infographics reminded. In this context, the courts denied access to 1,079 news websites, 97 other websites, 635 Internet addresses, 10 social media accounts and 301 pieces of content in 2020.
