It is aimed at promoting and ensuring that people with disabilities enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms fully and equally, and to strengthen respect for human honors.
Our country signed the Convention, which was adopted by the UN in 2006, in 2007, and approved it in 2009. The Convention's additional elderly Protocol, which recognizes the right to apply individually to people with disabilities, was approved in 2015.
The convention obliges states to take the necessary measures to implement all rights such as accessibility, right to life, access to justice, independent life and society, freedom of thought and expression, access to information, education, health, malignancies and rehabilitation, employment, participation in political and public life for the disabled.
The convention stipulates that information and awareness studies should be carried out on disability for all social parties, that the rights of disabled people should be protected and promoted with holism in all policies and programs, that all practices that violate the rights of disabled people be put to an end, and that necessary measures should be taken to combat disability-based discrimination, especially in terms of the exercise of all rights.
In this context, the states parties should make policy and programming, to take legal and administrative measures, to update the legislation, and to monitor the application. Also, the creation of policies and programs and the participation of disabled individuals in all decision-making processes in the implementation and monitoring stages are among the obligations emphasized by the Convention.
Disabled persons who experience rights violations in our country can apply individually to the Disability Rights Committee following the Additional Preventive Protocol with the claim of rights violations provided that they exhaust their domestic legal means. Since the committee is not a court of appeal, its decisions are advisory and guiding for the states.
The General Directorate of Disability and Elderly Services is the focus institution determined to conduct coordination studies to promote and procure the implementation of the Convention by all parties, including public institutions and non-governmental organizations, and monitoring the implementation. In this context, it coordinates the work for harmonization of laws, policies, public services, and resources according to the Convention.
People with disabilities, if they feel that their rights have been violated; may resort to various means against the type, subject matter, and persons, institutions, or organizations that violate the right. These violations should be evaluated first by considering the person or institution that committed the violation, and then by considering the legal and criminal trial dimension.
If the party that committed the Rights Violation is a public institution or organization, a written application can be made to correct the transaction resulting in a rights violation to the relevant institution first. Besides, it is possible to apply to the relevant institution or organization within the scope of the right of petition and the right to information, to obtain information through the Presidential Communication Center (CIMER), to request correction of the transaction, and to file a complaint.
In case of failure to obtain results from these, it is possible to go to the Turkish Human Rights and Equality Authority or the Public Auditor's Office, which is a friendly solution method, or to apply or apply to the relevant institution or organization free of charge according to the nature of the transaction.
If the party that violates the rights is a natural person or public/private legal entity and the violation of rights that occurs is a crime, the disabled person may file a complaint by applying to law enforcement or by pressing charges directly through the prosecutor's office. After the criminal complaint is filed, the issues that are considered to constitute a violation of rights through law enforcement, prosecutors' office, and courts are the subject of the judicial process. In this process, support such as a sign language interpreter and the task of the disabled person is provided by considering the type of disability.
If the person who violates the rights is a natural person or a private legal entity, but the violation of rights does not constitute a crime, a legal case may be filed. In this case, if the necessary conditions occur, the disabled person can benefit from legal aid. Again, in the judicial process, measures similar to those in the criminal trial are taken and the full participation of the disabled person in the processes is ensured.
If the disabled person has exhausted the above-mentioned domestic reneging, including an individual application to the Constitutional Court regarding the violation of the rights, and has not received any results; It can make individual applications to the European Court of Human Rights under the rights guaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights or to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities under the rights guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Disabled.
Disability-based discrimination is prohibited in our country. The Turkish Penal Code No. 5237 and Law No. 5378 on Disabled People have regulations regarding non-discrimination and penalties to be applied in case of discrimination. Article 4/a of the Law On People with Disabilities No. 5378 states that all forms of discrimination based on disability, including direct and indirect discrimination against people with disabilities, are prohibited, necessary measures should be taken to make reasonable arrangements for disabled people to ensure equality and eliminate discrimination, and special measures to be taken to ensure that disabled people can fully and equally enjoy rights and freedoms will not be considered discrimination.
Article 122 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237, titled "Hate and Discrimination", states that the cause of disability is caused by hatred; it is arranged that anyone who prevents a person from selling, transferring, or renting a publicly available movable or immovable property, taking advantage of a certain service offered to the public, hiring a person, and a person from doing a normal economic event will be punished with a prison sentence of 1 to 3 years.
The disabled individual, who thinks he has been discriminated against, is the 122nd president of the TCK through law enforcement and public prosecutors' office. Within the scope of article 1, it may file a criminal complaint against those who commit/perform the verb of discrimination. Besides, public institutions and organizations that provide education and training, judiciary, law enforcement, health, transportation, communication, social security, social services, social assistance, sports, accommodation, culture, tourism and similar services, professional organizations, natural persons, and private legal entities that are public institutions, natural persons and private legal entities can apply to the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey (ECHR) free of charge with the claim that they have been harmed by discrimination. The free application can be made to the Public Auditor's Office (KDK) as a friendly solution method with the discrimination claim made by public institutions and organizations.
In terms of access to justice
Assuring a sign language interpreter to the defendant or victim who is de-hearing impaired,
Explaining the main points related to the claim and defense in such a way that people with disabilities can understand the obstacle situation with appropriate forms of communication,
To the disabled person who has no self-support and who is too disabled to defend himself, to be appointed as a physics to the individual with hearing and speech disabilities, and to be appointed as a proxy for the victims who are in a similar situation,
Legal aid services are provided to people with disabilities who are in economic deprivation and have strong indications that their right has been violated.
In our country, they have the right to protect the privacy of everyone's private life without discrimination between disabled and non-disabled, to protect their privacy and to allow the collection, processing, and sharing of their personal data, to have their data derogated or anonymized.
In this regard, regulations have been made in the legislation of many institutions. There are regulations in this regard in various legislations such as the Personal Data Protection Law and related regulations, patient rights regulation, creation of a database of the deloused and the Regulation on the Issue of Identity Cards to the Gift of Identity cards to the Gifted.
In general, with the Law on the Protection of Personal Data and related regulations, the race, ethnicity, political thought, philosophical belief, religion, sect or other beliefs, disguise and clothing, association, foundation or union membership, health, sex life, criminal conviction and security measures data of people including disabilities have been accepted as personal data of special nature within the scope of biometric and genetic data and it is foreseen that it cannot be shared unless persons are anonymized without their consent.
