UNFPA at Work: Six Human Rights Case Studies

Claiming rights through the UNJP experienceFor me, what matters most is working together with the municipality. Before, I used to be apprehensive, worrying aboutwhether I would be blamed for bringing up issues that were not worthy of consideration. Now I am confident. I know thatdialogue and lobbying are part of my quest for my rights.UNJP has helped me and other women identify what we want, and why, and also what we will talk about; for example, howwe are unhappy about the rubbish, the dangers of the river and canals in our district. . . . The buses and dolmus [taxis carryingseveral independent passengers] need to be increased, and we need new lines. We have collected 1,500 signatures for this.In Çigli [a district of the City of İzmir] we have started to have talks with our Mayor. First we went to him with the followingdemands: transportation for our trips to meetings; support for the women’s meeting; joint development of our concept forestablishing a space for women and children; and preparing a project for water in the recreation area.We participated in the strategic planning meeting of the municipality. There we proposed improvements in intra-citytransportation and the establishment of a local women’s council. Then we held a meeting with four district representatives.We asked the Mayor to send representatives to these meetings. He sent a representative who noted everything. Of course wewere very pleased. . . .We went twice to the municipal council following the discussion about our demands. This was very effective. Now we senda representative to each meeting to follow up and take notes.The UNJP trainings gave me the self-confidence and knowledge to do this work. Also, UNJP has inspired women’s organizationsto start networking and meeting among themselves. In İzmir, we started a Yahoo group to improve communication.UNJP legitimizes women’s organizations by bringing us into dialogue in decision-making processes. . . . If the projects wepropose are included in the İzmir action plan, that will be a very good experience.— Kizbes Aydin, Çigli-Evka Women’s District House, City of İzmirsimilarly beneficial effect. Thus, by actively contributing tothe determination of UNJP outcomes in their communities,women’s NGOs and their representatives are becomingempowered rights-holders, which is a crucial requirementfor the attainment of health and development outcomesthat fully affirm human rights. The quotation that introducedthis case study and the one in the box above vividlyconvey examples of what this approach can mean.Efforts to build the capacity of duty-bearersThe United Nations Gender Thematic Group in Turkey conceivedof UNJP as an unprecedented partnership betweenrights-holders and duty-bearers. The participation of dutybearerswas deemed essential because, as CEDAW affirms,the protection and realization of women’s human rights arethe responsibility of the State.The Ministry of the Interior’s decision to serve as a majorUNJP partner firmly establishes the presence of duty-bearersin the programme. The Ministry oversees the developmentefforts of all local governments and is responsible forensuring democratic participation, transparency andaccountability at the local level.The local governing units in the six participating cities arerecognized as equally important duty-bearers in the project.A challenge that UNJP directly addresses is the localbodies’ willingness to partner with women’s organizationsto implement public programmes. Capacity-building forthese local authorities takes the form of workshops andother activities that help them become more skilfulat meeting their duties to rights-holders. While someof the same learning topics are relevant to both rightsholdersand duty-bearers, the emphasis for local authoritiesis on shifting from a hierarchical model to a collaborativeone, with all constituents – including women who lackprofessional credentials – equally qualified to serve ascollaborators.Some UNJP training activities have been for governmentrepresentatives alone, and others have brought togetherTURKEY5