Turkey's Engagement With Global Women's Human Rights by Nuket Kardam

Author:Nuket Kardam [Kardam, Nuket]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781351143868
Google: SfdADwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 36983708
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2005-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Ka-Mer Women's Center: Human Rights Training11

This center was established in Diyarbakir, in Southeastern Turkey, in 1997 to support women who are confronted with domestic violence, as well as to raise consciousness around women's issues and to inform women about their rights. The founders were a group of local women who believed in the autonomy of women's movement and approached women's problems from a feminist perspective. Because of political tension and armed conflict in the region due to the Kurdish problem, these women had to work under extraordinary restrictions and very unfavorable conditions. Ka-Mer, as an autonomous women's organization, met with resistance and pressure. In fact, it was the first organization that focused on discrimination against women in the region, a taboo subject in the traditional culture. It was furthermore criticized by other human rights NGOs which perceived any form of issue-based organization as a luxury when all kinds of human rights and freedoms were in danger in the region.

In spite of the drawbacks of the political climate, Ka-Mer succeeded in organizing small consciousness-raising groups and established an emergency relief line for women suffering from domestic violence in 1997. Besides providing counseling and various forms of support to women, they tried to bring together women in different social and cultural activities. In 1998, Ka-Mer also managed to establish a child-care center and a restaurant serving local food at its new premises. With these two enterprises, Ka-Mer aimed to offer services to women in its immediate circle, provide employment for women, especially for those who had to leave their homes due to various kinds of mistreatment and violence. The founders thought that a well managed restaurant could be an important basis for the sustainability of the other services and activities of the organization, such as the emergency line and counseling until other means of support could be found.

Consciousness-raising for women's human rights in small groups and group discussions were consistently used by the founders of Ka-Mer even before it was formally organized. Since 1996, about 600 women have participated in these group discussions. Twelve women from the organization taught themselves to become facilitators in these training sessions, preparing and using materials developed by others, and inviting experts to join the sessions. The facilitators in the sessions are women from the region, who had a feminist perspective and who were aware of discrimination against women, besides other forms of subordination in the area. Some of them have also worked in other NGOs and have attended training sessions on different topics such as communication or management, offered by other organizations. The fact that they can speak Kurdish was an advantage especially when they are working with women who express themselves in Kurdish. All the women working in Ka-Mer participated in this group training as well. In these sessions women learned from one another and developed more empathy for each other's problems, instead of being formally taught by experts. The groups usually consisted of 10-12 people depending on the topic of discussion. The training program was designed after an initial stage where a needs assessment was conducted.

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