Turkey does not adequately protect women from domestic violence

ECHR: Turkish woman had to hide from ex-husband for years

(Jur). Judicial authorities should not be inactive for years on domestic violence against women and concrete threats to life and limb. States are obliged to give affected women protection against further violence, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday, March 22, 2016, in Strasbourg (Ref .: 646/10). According to this, Turkey may not restrict the legal basis for protective measures to married women. In this case, the ECtHR denounced the discriminatory passivity of Turkish courts. This promotes a climate of domestic violence.

The complainant, a woman living in Istanbul, married her husband in 1997. From the beginning, the husband was violent towards her. Domestic violence not only resulted in physical injury, but also in depression and chronic post-traumatic stress.

In July 2006, she fled from her husband. Her children initially went to a social institution. The woman divorced in 2007. Her husband reported her to the prosecutor.

But the Turkish justice allowed plenty of time. The mother was heard on 15 December 2006, but charges against the former husband were only filed in February 2012. Meanwhile, the ex-husband continued to threaten further violence and the death of the woman.

Multiple requests from the police and judiciary to protect her from her former husband were unsuccessful. The woman finally found refuge with her children in the Turkish aid organization "Purple Roof", which hides women threatened by violence.

Before the ECtHR, the complainant alleged that Turkey had failed to protect her and her children from her husband. Only after more than five and a half years, a court has forbidden the man to keep in touch with her. Women are constantly and systematically discriminated against in Turkey when it comes to violence against them.

The ECtHR awarded the complainant compensation of EUR 19,500 and a further EUR 4,000 for costs incurred. The Turkish judicial authorities had not dealt with the case for years. However, they have a duty to act as quickly as possible, taking into account the psychological, physical and financial risks of the victim. The complainant had been treated inhumane because of the inaction.

The woman had to hide from her ex-husband for years, because in Turkey there is a legal basis for the ordering of state protection measures for married people, but not for divorcees. This constituted an unlawful discrimination. The Turkish authorities had with their passivity promoted the climate for domestic violence. The complainant is therefore entitled to compensation. (Fle / mwo)