• June 26 – International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

    June 26, 2025

    Today marks the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, proclaimed by the United Nations as a call to uphold human dignity and the absolute prohibition of torture. Turkey is a party to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, signed on June 26, 1987. Article 2 of the Convention clearly states: “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.” This unequivocal prohibition leaves no room for interpretation: torture…

  • World Refugee Day Declaration – 20 June

    June 20, 2025

    The Global Scale of Forced Displacement Wars, internal conflicts, persecution and human‑rights violations have driven the number of people compelled to leave their homes to record levels worldwide. According to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 117.3 million people were forcibly displaced by conflict, violence or oppression as at the end of 2023.1 This figure encompasses refugees, asylum‑seekers, internally displaced persons and stateless individuals. Each passing year, this growing phenomenon of forced migration carries not merely statistics but the tragic stories of millions uprooted from their homes, separated from loved ones and confronted with an uncertain future. The…

  • METAMORPHOSIS: Women’s Resilience to Oppression in Türkiye

    June 11, 2025

    AST (Advocates of Silenced Turkey) received the Best Documentary Award at the Amsterdam New Cinema Film Festival for METAMORPHOSIS: Women’s Resilience to Oppression in Türkiye. This meaningful recognition provides a stronger voice for women courageously resisting oppression and violence whose voices have been silenced. The Amsterdam Law Center congratulates AST volunteers on this significant accomplishment and wishes them continued success in their valuable work.