News item | 14-12-2023 | 19:27
This year the Human Rights Tulip has been awarded to Hülya Gülbahar, a feminist lawyer from Turkey and founder of Equality Watch Women’s Group (EŞİTİZ) and it Women’s Platform for Equality Türkiye (EŞİK). Minister Bruins Slot of Foreign Affairs presented the prize on December 14 in the Peace Palace.
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The Human Rights Tulip
The Human Rights Tulip is awarded annually by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support human rights defenders in the work they do: highlighting, protecting and improving human rights in the world. The winner of the Human Rights Tulip receives a tulip-shaped bronze statue and a sum of money, with which the winner can continue and possibly expand human rights work.
Minister Bruins Slot: “Human rights are one of the most important tools we have at our disposal to tackle the major problems of our time: think of war, poverty, climate change. But without action, human rights are just words and sentences from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The nominees for the Human Rights Tulip know this all too well. With their tireless efforts, these human rights defenders actually make a difference for people and society.”
The work of Hülya Gülbahar
Hülya Gülbahar is a feminist lawyer who has contributed to the women’s rights movement and the defense of human rights in Turkey for more than 40 years. Gülbahar directed Equality Watch Women’s Group (EŞİTİZ) and the Women’s Platform for Equality Türkiye (EŞİK) on. Both organizations publish legal analyzes of bills or amendments around women and LGBTIQ+ themes, carry out awareness campaigns on, for example, combating violence against women and domestic violence, and are involved in social mobilization of the Turkish feminist movement.
“For more than 40 years, Hülya Gülbahar has been committed to women’s rights in Turkey. She fights injustice with robust legal expertise and an influential network – consisting mainly of women – that cannot be ignored. And with great success. Through people like Hülya, the voices standing up for human rights are heard. That deserves our support,” said Minister Bruins Slot.
Other nominees
The other two nominees for the Human Rights Tulip were Julienne Baseke and Claudelice dos Santos. As a journalist and human rights defender, Julienne Baseke is committed to women’s rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As a journalist she founded the organization South Kivu Association of Women in the Media to increase the visibility and participation of women within the DRC’s media sector.
Claudelice dos Santos, a human rights and environmental activist from the Amazon region, is the founder of the The Claudio e Maria Institute which focuses on protecting indigenous land, environmental and human rights defenders by providing a safe shelter.