Gözde AKBEN
Speaking on the Öğlen Ajansı program as Cem Kar’s guest, Emine Erk, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Kıbrıs Türk İnsan Hakları Vakfı, said that media organizations had often failed to act sensitively when human rights issues arose and when respect for human rights was at stake, and added that human rights cannot be addressed “in a specific, short period of time.”
“THE CYPRUS ISSUE HAS BECOME AN EXCUSE FOR ALL OUR PROBLEMS” Emine Erk said that because the Cyprus issue is seen in society as the source of every problem, people have been unable to be productive in finding solutions and have used the Cyprus issue as an excuse for every problem. Erk said, “The lack of a solution to the Cyprus issue means we do not give much thought to other matters. We use this issue as an excuse. When we look at our economy, are we standing on our own two feet? We do not question whether our economic approaches are based on universal values and independent thinking; instead, we look for a way out by saying, ‘We have the Cyprus problem, what can we do? We will always have to depend on others.’ As with every issue, it has become our excuse on human rights, too. The Cyprus issue has also been a cause of human rights violations.”
“CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ARE VIOLATED AND NEGLECTED; CHILDREN ARE NOT PROTECTED” Speaking with regret about how frequently the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was violated in our country in 2009, particularly in light of a press conference they held a few days ago, Erk said that children were not being adequately protected. Erk said that Cypriot families’ excessive protectiveness toward their children blinded them, adding, “There are children in our country who have been neglected and abused. There are children who are made to work at a young age, and children who are employed illegally. When a child gets into trouble or commits an offense, we cannot say that the treatment they receive is what they should receive, whether we look at children’s rights or our own domestic law.” Explaining the issue with an example, Erk said, “When children make a mistake or commit an offense, they are judged first by our press. Some media organizations are more sensitive about this, admittedly, but they do not all show the same sensitivity, and they may expose a child by publishing their image.” Erk said, “A person we call a suspect, someone accused of a crime, also has human rights. However harshly we may regard them, or even call them a monster in our newspaper headlines, we must remember that it is the courts—not the media—that decide whether a person has committed a crime. None of us has the right to judge that person as though they committed the crime based on allegations; only the courts can determine guilt, not us.” Erk added that if news reports were prepared in line with the statements on the Kıbrıs Türk İnsan Hakları Vakfı website, the rights of those accused could also be properly protected.
“THE MEDIA MUST ACT RESPONSIBLY” Noting that they were still a new organization in the field of human rights in Cyprus, Erk said that, for now, most complaints received by the organization concerned the conduct of media outlets. Erk said, “We received a complaint about our society and our media through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in our capacity as a foundation, concerning the rights of refugees. The complaint said: ‘Your media is very ill-informed. It publishes material that goes against human rights. Although undocumented migrants and refugees are in a special position in which their human rights must be respected, they are othered and portrayed as criminals. They are depicted as people who should be deported or sentenced to prison. This is a human rights violation.’ We received this complaint. In response, we said, ‘Yes, you are right, but given that this is the situation, help us educate our media.’ They provided us with a speaker from Turkey, and we held the event last summer. We also invited all media organizations to take part in the training. I would like to appeal to media organizations: if you are going to write something about refugees or migrants and have any doubts, please consult the training notes on the website and show the necessary sensitivity.”
“WE HAVE ISOLATED OUR RIGHTS, TOO” Emine Erk stressed that because of the Cyprus issue, society had isolated itself in many respects, and had even isolated itself from human rights. Erk said, “A gulf has been created between our practices and those of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We are facing many problems now, and I think there will be even more. This has caused the gap in human rights to widen. We did not pay attention or keep watch, and we did not attach importance to the implementation of human rights either. In a way, this is racism. A policy is being implemented in our country that others people who come from abroad and leaves them in a vulnerable position when a crime is committed or a child is raped. This is a scandal from the perspective of human rights and humanity. Consequently, all our officials, writers and cartoonists have failed in this regard.” Erk also stressed that there was no law on human trafficking in our country, saying, “Our laws do not even define human trafficking as a crime. Human trafficking has a very specific definition worldwide. But, unfortunately, the term does not even appear in our law. If our law included a provision on this issue, people who have been exploited could easily be in a position to seek their rights.”