Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) submitted a written statement entitled “The problem of participation of women belonging to minority groups in political and public life” to the 14th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. In the written statement, ABTTF expressed the current state of the women belonging to the Minority Western Thrace in Greece and their problems when participating in political and public life. To summarize some highlights from the statement:
• In the statement, criticism of “The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women” (CEDAW) on the persistence of patriarchal attitudes and deep-rooted stereotypes regarding the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and society in Greece was noted.
• In order to eliminate negative stereotypes with regard to the role of women in public and political life, Greece launched a program for the sensitization of public school teachers and implemented it in regions of the country. However, the schools of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, which is the only officially recognized minority group on its religious ground in Greece, have not been included in the program since the program only applied to the public schools.
• Education level of women belonging to the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace is remarkably low.
• In the statement, statistical data on the project KÖYEP (Reaching out to Countryside) conducted by Western Thrace Minority University Graduates Association was also presented.
• In Greece, the participation of women in political life is still not in a gender balanced proportion. In October 2009 elections, women were able to get 52 seats out of 300 in the Greek Parliament. Even one women belonging to the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace was not elected in the elections. In the statement, it was advised to reform the election system in order to strengthen women representation not only in the Greek Parliament but also in the Parliaments that implement proportional election system.
• Political representation problem on the local level was also discussed. Accordingly, problems that Sibel Mustafaoğlu, Vice-Prefect of the Prefectural Council of Rodopi faced during her political life were also noted.
At the end of the statement, ABTTF advises to:
• encourage women candidates not only by a high proportion but also with a strict ranking in the election lists,
• implement a program/project to determine the needs and the problems of women belonging to vulnerable minority groups,
• form a policy that gives first priority to education of women belonging to Turkish Minority the Western Thrace,
• ensure the participation of these women to rural development projects to strengthen their participation in public life as they mostly live in rural areas.
The full text of the written statement can be retrieved here.
Please click here to read the full text of the written statement.
