| A MESSAGE FROM KHRP’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Foreword
By the Executive Director and Chairman
Dear Friends
1998 and early 1999 have seen many events and anniversaries, both at KHRP and in the wider community. As we go to print, world attention is focussed on the unfolding horrors in Kosovo. Human rights are in the public eye, yet in the face of this systematic human rights abuse continues in the Kurdish regions. The country reports at the back of this annual report document continued torture, extra-judicial killing, village destruction and restrictions on freedom of expression.
KHRP seeks to use international human rights mechanisms to bring states in the Kurdish regions to account for their treatment of their Kurdish populations. 1998 saw two important anniversaries which illustrate the importance of international law in tackling human rights violations:
- In March 1988, five thousand Kurdish people in Halabja, northern Iraq, died as a result of a chemical weapons attack by Saddam Hussein's armies. On the tenth anniversary of the attack, KHRP and CARDRI released 500 black balloons in Trafalgar Square in memory of those who lost their lives. Yet eleven years after the event, no one has been called to account. If the International Criminal Court had been in place in 1988, the position might have been different.
- In December 1993, more than ten Kurdish lawyers were held in detention in Diyarbakir, south east Turkey for up to twenty six days. They allege that they were detained and tortured because of their work in the field of human rights, in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. Yet they marked the fifth anniversary of their detention by giving evidence to the European Commission of Human Rights in Ankara about their treatment. Applicants can, therefore, seek justice under the European Convention, and KHRP is committed to assisting them with this process.
Throughout 1998, KHRP continued to make all possible use of international human rights mechanisms to investigate allegations of human rights abuse, with the ultimate aim of bringing human rights violations in the Kurdish regions to an end.
As KHRP enters its seventh year, the programme of litigation before the European Court of Human Rights is coming to fruition. 1998 saw judgment delivered in eight cases brought by Kurdish applicants. The Turkish state was found responsible for burning villages, inhuman and degrading treatment, and appalling failures to investigate allegations of ill-treatment at the hands of the security forces. The judgments mark the culmination of five years of work for the applicants and their families, and for KHRP’s legal team in the Kurdish regions and in Europe. The applicants, having failed to find justice in their own countries, relive their experiences time and time again, giving evidence, making statements and filing applications. They are supported by a diligent legal team, giving their time freely to bring the cases before the Court. The Kurdish applicants and lawyers often face intimidation at every stage of this process. At KHRP, we pay particular tribute to the courage of the applicants, lawyers and human rights activists working on the ground in the regions. Without them, the pattern of abuse which has emerged through the cases would not be brought to public attention.
Alongside the litigation programme, KHRP’s mission to train others in the use of human rights mechanisms continues, with interns from overseas assisting the inhouse legal team in our London offices, the holding of a training seminar in Ankara, and the publication of legal reports analysing the KHRP assisted casework. Likewise, the campaign to raise public awareness of the human rights situation of the Kurds has been developed, with the regular publication of a KHRP news bulletin, and the use of our website. Missions have travelled to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. A record number of reports have been published, ranging from research into the problems faced by Kurds in Syria, to the obstacles to freedom of expression in Turkey.
Of course, none of our work would be possible without the generous support of our funders. We are enormously grateful to all who have contributed to KHRP’s work over 1998. We also owe a debt of gratitude to all who give so freely of their time. Lawyers throughout Europe assist with KHRP’s legal work without charge, often working at great risk to themselves, and numerous individuals help with projects ranging from training to photocopying reports.
1999 and the new millenium pose new challenges. We will continue with the casework, making ultimate practical use of the international human rights mechanisms available to us. Kurdish lawyers are becoming increasingly more involved in the litigation process: we are building on this with the internship and training projects. We hope to conduct more research into Iran, Iraq, Syria and the former Soviet Union. We are developing our information centre; as awareness of Kurdish issues increases, we receive many inquires about the situation in the regions.
We would like to conclude by reiterating our gratitude to all our funders, staff, volunteers and supporters, without whom our work in promoting human rights and the rule of law in the Kurdish regions would not be possible.
Kerim Yildiz
Executive Director
MARK Muller
Chairman
April 1999
The Role of the Kurdish Human Rights Project
The KHRP was established in December 1992 in response to the abysmal human rights situation in the Kurdish regions and the international community’s failure to effectively call Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the former Soviet Union to account for the treatment of their Kurdish populations.
These states, encompassing the Kurdish regions, have ratified many international agreements relating to human rights, thereby freely volunteering their individual consent to be bound by them. KHRP was bom out of a desire to utilise these international instruments in order to ensure that consistent violators of human rights within the Kurdish regions were made accountable before the legal structures which police both the European and wider International communities. These initial seeds have metamorphosised into an organisation which consistently draws international attention to, and encourages international condemnation of, human rights violations in the Kurdish regions.
KHRP employs a team of six permanent members of staff, and is located in one office in Central London. It is both a limited company and a registered charity.
The Executive Director and a board of five trustees - also known as Directors - are responsible for the management and policy development of the Project.
KHRP has both an Advisory Board and an International Board of Patrons. The Advisory Board members are actively involved in the facilitation of working sub-committees on subjects of specific interest and value to the work of KHRP, such as ‘Legal Development’, ‘Research and Education’ and ‘International Affairs’.
KHRP constructs much of its work around four core projects, namely Human Rights Advocacy & Training, Trial Observations & Fact-Finding Missions, Research & Publication, and Public Awareness, Education & Communication Strategies. Much of this project work is carried out by our professional members of staff, within the KHRP offices in London, who are directly involved in the implementation of projects from the initial planning and preparation through to their final evaluation stage.
The body of KHRP’s activities revolve around our intensive legal work, located within the boundaries of the Human Rights Advocacy & Training project. KHRP provides legal advice and assistance to a large number of individuals in the Kurdish regions who are complaining that their rights under the European Convention of Human Rights have been violated by the Turkish state. KHRP is involved in all preliminary case preparation, and in particular the drafting and pleading of cases, both orally and in writing, brought before the European Court and Commission of Human Rights1 in Strasbourg. This also involves attending investigation hearings in Strasbourg and Ankara, and co-ordinating the caseload of KHRP’s ‘Legal Team’. |
