For this issue we interviewed Interior Minister Abdülkadir Aksu about the United Nations Joint Programme to Protect and Promote the Human Rights of Women and Girls (UNJP). UNJP is implemented jointly by the United Nations and Ministry of Interior and was chosen by UNFPA as one of the two best case studies for Human Rights Based Approach Programming.
Newsletter: Mr. Minister, the Ministry of Interior carries out a very important role in the Joint Programme implemented jointly with the United Nations. What does UNJP mean for your Ministry?
Minister Aksu: First of all I would like to thank you for the interview.
UNJP is one of the important steps in line with the Ministry of Interior’s policy “Happy Individual, Serene Society”.
The Ministry of Interior implements several projects jointly with the United Nations and European Union to find solutions to the problems of women and girls, who comprise half of the Turkish population.
Our main goal is to achieve contemporary rights and freedoms and enable our citizens to live peacefully and without fear.
In this respect, progress of the Women Rights Project is very important. It is important to improve the quality of daily life for women and girls, to make urban life more women friendly, and include greater numbers of women in decision making. UNJP will facilitate our success in these issues.
Newsletter: Can you explain the Ministry of Interior’s stance regarding women’s rights?
Minister Aksu: Mainly Mr. Prime Minister and the Ministry of Interior caringly work on and give due attention to women’s rights.
Recently, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan released a circular on the “Fight against Violence against Women and Children and Crimes in the Name of Honour and Customs”.
In addition, the Ministry of Interior released a circular on “Rights of Women and Girls” requesting local governments to improve education opportunities for women, fight against domestic violence, protect children who are victims of neglect and abuse, enhance social services for children, women at all ages and handicapped women; and outlining the duties of City Councils.
Newsletter: How will inclusion of women in greater numbers and a gender sensitive approach into decision making impact local government service capacity and efficiency?
Minister Aksu: An urban setting inclusive of women and encouraging women to freely express themselves should be created according to the specific needs of women.
The Ministry of Interior has completed several projects to promote citizen and especially women’s participation in local decision making. These activities are based on a “Citizens First” approach.
Thanks to the Law on Provincial Special Administrations and the Law on Municipalities prepared by the Ministry of Interior and legislated by Parliament recently, voluntary participation of citizens in local services such as health, education, social services, and services for elderly, women, children, handicapped, poor and the needy is made possible.
In line with this, a circular on “Voluntary participation in Local Services” was released in October 2005.
A circular on “City Councils”, which is designed for greater inclusion of citizens in local decision making, was released in October 2006.
All of these improvements in the legal framework show that women, who are the main users of local services, are not invisible. They are the defining members of the community.
Newsletter: Recent legal reforms encourage women’s participation in local decision making. How do you think the Joint Programme will contribute to the implementation of these reforms?
Minister Aksu: Article 10 of the Constitution, Laws on Municipalities, Metropolitan Muni-cipalities and Provincial Special Admi-nistrations and many other legal reforms are designed to make women more active and influential in local decision making and make them benefit from local services across a broader spectrum. Our efforts will implement these reforms in the shortest time and in the most effective way to make them lasting.
Joint Programme, which we conduct jointly with the UN, is being initially executed in six cities. Thanks to all of the efforts mentioned above, Turkey will be among the leading countries in women’s rights.
These endeavours will provide better opportunities for women to participate in local governments and local decision making in greater numbers.
I consider UNJP an important step toward eliminating the obstacles women face while participating in national and local decision making processes.
Newsletter: Mr. Minister, what is the next step to enhance women’s and girls’ human rights in Turkey?
Minister Aksu: Gender equality is a universal value that is essential for strengthening society. Education of girls, especially completing high school, is a critical requirement to combat poverty and achieve development. Gender equality is a prerequisite for democracy, development and social peace.
Hundreds of thousands of girls enrolled in school as a result of the “Let’s go to school, Girls” campaign, which will continue until every girl at school age is enrolled in a school.
The percentage of women in national and local decision making is less than the world average. At the latest general elections only 24 of the 550 deputies were women, which makes only 4.4 percent of the parliamentarians. Local government figures are also not very encouraging. Only 18 of 3225 mayors in Turkey are women, which yields 0.5 percent of the mayors. Provincial Council membership figures also follow the above mentioned trend. At the 1935 general elections, 18 of the 395 deputies were women (4.6 percent). When we compare this figure with the current number of women in the parliament, we cannot say that we have made progress in including women in politics in greater numbers.
However, the key to development is making education and health services accessible for women and girls, in addition to all types of local services; and the inclusion of women in greater numbers, combined with a gender sensitive approach, in local decision making. As I have previously stated, we are trying to achieve all of the goals mentioned above through enactment of recent legal reforms.
Newsletter: UNJP is the first programme that brings the Ministry of Interior, local governments, the private sector (VAKSA) and NGOs together. What kind of positive input would this new approach provide for similar programmes in the future?
Minister Aksu: Our government encourages advancement of NGOs for enhancement of participatory democracy, which we consider a very positive development for the progress of society and the state.
Our joint efforts with VAKSA and NGOs to advance gender equality will further strengthen our participatory democracy
Newsletter: Mr. Minister, is there anything you want to add?
Minister Aksu: I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Mahmood Ayub in his new post as the UN Resident Coordinator. I would like to thank all UN staff, Ms. Güler Sabancı and VAKSA for their invaluable contributions, for the sincere support from governors and mayors of the programme cities İzmir, Kars, Nevşehir, Şanlıurfa, Trabzon and Van, and all employees of local governments in the programme cities, as well as all of our other implementing partners. |
