561 Women Harassed or Raped in Detention in Last 20 Years

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The Legal Aid Bureau Against Sexual Harassment and Rape in Detention has released its November 25 report.

561 women and girls applied to the bureau since 1997. 18% of these women were raped and 82% were sexually harassed in detention.

79% of the women harassed or raped were in detention due to political reasons, 21% due to administrative reasons.

12% of those who were raped or harassed in detention were under 18.

Kurds consist 74%; Turks consist 23%; Assyrian, Arabic, German, Roman, Austrian, Uzbekistani or Moldavian women consist the rest of the applicants.

One of the raped women committed suicide following the rape. A 14-year-old girl was murdered by her relatives after she was raped.

180 suits have been filed

180 suits have been filed as a result of the applications submitted to the bureau.

46 of these files were concluded at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and three of them are ongoing. A case resulted against Turkey is now at the Supreme Court of Appeals.

40% of the applicant women (229 women) feared to take legal action. Despite that, a perpetrator soldier was discharged from duty.

14 women gave up on the legal struggle as the case continued. As one of them gave up due to the pressures she was subjected to during the trial, another one decided not to take the case to the Supreme Court of Appeals when the case concluded with acquittal.