Turkish Gender Discrimination Cases in Domestic and International Courts

2019 ◽  
pp. 175-224
Author(s):  
Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom ◽  
Valerie Sperling ◽  
Melike Sayoglu

Chapter 6 is a comparative inquiry into the international and domestic opportunity structure for gender discrimination court cases. The chapter asks, how generalizable are the barriers and opportunities to bringing sex-based discrimination cases to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) from Russia to other Council of Europe member states? The chapter examines social, interpersonal, and material barriers to bringing gender discrimination and LGBT discrimination cases in Turkey. It looks at types of gender discrimination, including domestic violence and honor killing, as well as violence against members of the LGBT community, such as hate crimes. The chapter includes an in-depth analysis of discrimination cases from Turkey regarding both women and LGBT citizens, and finds that, with a few illuminating exceptions, the barriers in Turkey are similar to those in Russia (these include reluctance to go to court, stereotypical attitudes toward sex-based and LGBT discrimination among law enforcement and in the courts, a lack of statistical data to prove patterns of discrimination, lengthy procedures and unsatisfying court decisions and/or implementation of decisions, and a lack of legal training on discrimination). In addition to discussing important gender discrimination and LGBT discrimination cases in domestic court in Turkey, the chapter covers ECtHR rulings on Turkish cases, as well as the impact of the Convention on Eliminating All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence.

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom ◽  
Valerie Sperling ◽  
Melike Sayoglu

Over the past two decades, Russian citizens whose rights have been violated at home have appealed tens of thousands of cases to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which rules on the basis of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). But only three of the Russian cases that have reached a judgment from the ECtHR have included gender discrimination claims, and all three of these cases were brought by men, not women. This chapter briefly discusses the domestic and international barriers to bringing gender discrimination complaints to Russian courts and to the ECtHR. The chapter also introduces our cross-national and cross-issue comparison cases: discrimination against women in Turkey, and against the LGBT community in Russia and Turkey, and court cases on these issues in Russia, Turkey, and at the ECtHR. The chapter includes our methodology (a description of our research process and our interviewees in both countries) and a brief explanation of how the ECtHR works. The chapter summarizes our findings as to what enables legal victories in domestic and international courts on gender discrimination cases: activism requires activists; winning cases requires legal expertise on discrimination cases (which is often lacking); winning discrimination cases requires systematic data proving a pattern of bias; winning cases is contagious, in that winning a legal victory on one issue (such as domestic violence) leads to further legal victories on that issue. Chapter 1 also includes summaries of the rest of the book’s chapters.


2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-317
Author(s):  
Chipo Dendere

AbstractWhat is the impact of access to political party finance – money that parties use to fund their campaign activities – on politics in Africa? While multiparty elections have become more regular in the developing world, many opposition parties are still failing to win elections. This paper argues that poor access to political finance weakens democratic consolidation and negatively impacts the participation of less-resourced candidates who are unable to self-fund. As a result, opposition parties are forced to rely on weak promises of aid from international donors and unreliable state funding. This in-depth analysis of political finance, based on extensive interviews with politicians and government officials in Zimbabwe, political documents, news reports and a review of court cases, reveals that uneven financing has weakened opposition parties and serves as an extra advantage for incumbents.


Author(s):  
Dieter Grimm

This chapter examines the democratic costs of constitutionalization by focusing on the European case. It first considers the interdependence of democracy and constitutionalism before discussing how constitutionalization can put democracy at risk. It then explores the tension between democracy and fundamental rights, the constitutionalization of the European treaties, and the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) two separate judgments regarding the relationship between European law and national law. It also assesses the impact of the ECJ’s jurisprudence on democracy, especially in the area of economic integration. The chapter argues that the legitimacy problem the EU faces is caused in part by over-constitutionalization and that the remedy to this problem is re-politicization of decisions with significant political implications.


Author(s):  
Thomas Brodie

This chapter analyses the impact exerted on the Catholic Church’s pastoral networks in Germany by the mass evacuation of laypeople from bombed urban areas as of 1941. Drawing on the voluminous correspondence of priests and curates despatched from the Rhineland and Westphalia to Saxony, Thuringia, Silesia, Austria, and elsewhere to minister to Catholic evacuees, this chapter provides in-depth analysis of the social and cultural histories of religious practice in wartime Germany. It demonstrates that the evacuation of laypeople—a topic long neglected within histories of wartime religious practice—exerted a profound influence on pastoral practice by the years 1943–5, placing unprecedented pressures on the Catholic clergy of the dioceses central to this study (Aachen, Cologne and Münster). This chapter therefore also casts new light on regionalism in Germany during the Nazi era.


Author(s):  
Annette Aigner ◽  
Bernd Hamm ◽  
Florian Nima Fleckenstein ◽  
Tazio Maleitzke ◽  
Georg Böning ◽  
...  

Objectives As a cross-section discipline within the hospital infrastructure, radiological departments might be able to provide important information regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare. The goal of this study was to quantify changes in medical care during the first wave of the pandemic using radiological examinations as a comprehensive surrogate marker and to determine potential future workload. Methods A retrospective analysis of all radiological examinations during the first wave of the pandemic was performed. The number of examinations was compared to time-matched control periods. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis of radiological examinations attributed to various medical specialties was conducted and postponed examinations were extrapolated to calculate additional workload in the near future. Results A total of 596,760 examinations were analyzed. Overall case volumes decreased by an average of 41 % during the shutdown compared to the control period. The most affected radiological modalities were sonography (–54 %), X-ray (–47 %) followed by MRI (–42 %). The most affected medical specialty was trauma and orthopedics (–60 % case volume) followed by general surgery (–49 %). Examination numbers increased during the post-shutdown period leading to a predicted additional workload of up to 22 %. Conclusion This study shows a marked decrease in radiological examinations in total and among several core medical specialties, indicating a significant reduction in medical care during the first COVID-19 shutdown. Key Points: Citation Format


Author(s):  
Francesco Mancini ◽  
Raffaele De Giorgi ◽  
Alessandro Ludovisi ◽  
Salvatrice Vizzini ◽  
Giorgio Mancinelli

AbstractThe introduction of the amphipod Dikerogammarus villosus in European fresh waters is to date recognized as a threat to the integrity of invaded communities. Predation by D. villosus on native benthic invertebrates is assumed as the key determinant of its ecological impact, yet available information describe the species as a primary consumer as well as a carnivore depending on local conditions. Here, we assessed the trophic position (TP) of D. villosus in Lake Trasimeno, a recently invaded lentic system in central Italy, using the CN isotopic signatures of individuals captured in winter spanning two orders of magnitude in body size. TP estimations were compared with those characterizing the native amphipod Echinogammarus veneris and other representative invertebrate predators. On average, D. villosus showed a trophic position higher than E. veneris, and comparable with that of odonate nymphs. An in-depth analysis revealed that large-sized individuals had a trophic position of 3.07, higher than odonates and close to that of the hirudinean predator Erpobdella octoculata, while small-sized specimens had a trophic position of 2.57, similar to that of E. veneris (2.41). These findings indicate that size-related ontogenetic shifts in dietary habits may per se vary the nature of the interaction between Dikerogammarus villosus and native invertebrates from competition to predation. Information collated from published isotopic studies corroborated the generality of our results. We conclude that intra-specific trophic flexibility may potentially amplify and make more multifaceted the impact of the species on other invertebrate species in invaded food webs.


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