Project Summary
Grantee	: Agenda: Child Association
Purpose	: Using the judicial system as a tool to fight discrimination
Location	: Turkey
Grant Amount	: 199.776 TL
Project Partner	: Lawyers Network for Children
Period	: 15 July 2015 – 15 July 2016
Status	: Completed
Project Year	: 2015

Background

Discriminatory actions on age, gender and disability are very common in the judicial processes in Turkey. Jurisdiction is the key mechanism providing equality and justice against discrimination, however some decisions do not meet the standards of the European Court of Human Rights. It is necessary to reveal the situation and improve the legal system.

Project Goals

• Discrimination against women, youth and persons with disabilities will be revealed by analyzing lawsuits.
• An analysis will be made on people or situations causing discrimination regarding critical cases.
• Booklets will be prepared and shared with key actors/institutions to fight discrimination.
• Policy papers will be prepared.
• Judicial processes will be initiated for 6 infringement cases.

Project Results

• 20 cases from Turkey were analyzed from the perspective of gender, disability and age discrimination and compared with the standards of European Court of Human Rights. The results were published in the “Discrimination in Judicial System Report”.
• Legal action was initiated against 6 cases in which children rights are violated, and a test case was filed.
• Informative videos were prepared about these 6 cases and shared on social media.
• Information packs were prepared for lawyers and NGOs in order to share the experience of fighting against discrimination in the judicial system.
• Policy papers were written on the cases which were being pursued and meetings were organized with public institutions to draw attention on the discrimination in the judicial system.

Testimonials

"We saw children who were illegally handcuffed in the corridors of the courthouse. We saw children who were forced to give statement while standing just next to his/her abuser in the courtroom. The Magnifier project aims to make this discrimination visible and change it."

Project Lawyer

"The biggest motto of our project is 'We are Magnifying the Issue'. With this project, we really managed to magnify the discrimination and make it more visible in three areas which are disability, age and gender."

Project Coordinator