Committee : United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR)

Topic : Gender Equality on Refugees

Country : Republic of Turkey

“The real challenge is the integration of refugees. The efforts are needed by all ministries and
actors to achieve social integration of refugees”
Philippe Leclerc - Turkey’s Representative of UNHCR

Current Situation of Gender Equality for Refugee

According to the data per 2018, approximately there are 78 million refugees around
Europe and most of them were women, girls, and children. On the journey to reach the
certain temporary protection places, they often experience harsh conditions which threaten
their lives rooted by Gender-Based Violence (GBV)1. Until this present, such conditions are
still happening or even worse, they are evolving.
On proceeding their activity as refugee such as collecting water and go to the toilet,
oftentimes they terrified by the risk of rape and abuse. Around 50 percent of the talked
refugees who experience this situation, most of them goes for pregnant women, head of
households, elder one and even the women with disabilities2. Considering these conditions, it
becomes our concern to ensure the safety feeling of refugees across the land and raise a
warning for the irresponsible preparators.
State Policy and Past International Action
Enrolling Turkey's effort in 2013 as a safeguarding place for refugees, we created a
Temporary Protection Act based on the Article 91 of Turkish Law to accommodate the
interest regarding Foreigners and International Protection. The Turkish Government also
highlighted their interest and commitment upon the International Convention on The Status
of Refugees which was signed in 19513. Most of the refugees that arrived were from Syria.
To examine, we also receive several responses and recommendations from the international
community that become our further consideration.
The several responses are such First, giving attention onto the gender issues
dimension to strengthen up both national policies and international negotiation. Second,
having the desire for eliminating the violence against women to minimize the rate of
discrimination between citizens and refugees. To ensure international solidarity, The Turkish
Government calls upon the collaboration specifically for the UNHCR Member States to
construct certain policies to ensure the collective efforts for tackling GBV for refugees.
Possible Solution
The problem of refugees is a complicated matter that against up by the international
community because of human rights violation happened which is triggered of
gender-differentiate discrimination. Thus, the solutions to introduce the issue of "Gender
Equality to Refugees" should be considered in a durable time and the delegate of Turkey
would like to propose the following ways:
1
Kristjansdottir. 2018. Expert’s Take: Women Refugees On The Road Need Strong Advocates To Protect Their
Rights. https://eca.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/08/experts-take-iris-bjorg-kristjansdottir .
2
Scoppa, UNHCR. 2021. Women. UNHCR Asia Pacific Website. https://www.unhcr.org/women.html .
3
Maat for Peace, Development, and Human Rights. 2019. Gender Dimension in Turkish Migration Policies and
Strategies.
 First, recommends the government to strengthen the existing refugee policy by
paying special attention to the gender dimension, especially to women with the following
mechanisms: (i) Enforce laws on the equal elimination of violence against women and girls
without discrimination between citizens and refugees; (ii) Ensure that there is a clear
classification of refugee data with respect to the time period to ensure that they receive
rehabilitation assistance, especially those who have experienced violence; (iii) Affirming the
role of the international community in terms of providing protection for international refugees
who are the responsibility of humanitarian and international law to ensure their personal
safety and security, so that they can be compensated for the protection that has been lost in
their country.
Second, implements and supports the UNHCR Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD)
Policy as a long-term commitment to ensuring that refugees can enjoy their rights equally and
participate meaningfully in decisions that affect their lives, families and communities to
consolidate a strong AGD orientation, Accountability to Affected Persons (AAP), and
commitment to women and girls with effective and accountable humanitarian response such
as: (i) continuous engagement with the refugees; (ii) understand their protection needs and
risks; (iii) build their capacity; (iv) seek protection, assistance and solutions that take into
account their perspectives and priorities.
Third, proposes GREAT Program (Go Refugees to Equal Access no Turbulence)
to mitigate Gender-based Violence (GBV) by strengthening coordination and increasing the
implementation of quality specialised programmes to protect refugees with the following
mechanisms: (i) Involve women's leadership and participation in the delivery of services to
displaced communities, for example by providing women with the necessary skills training to
access these opportunities, as well as services to assist with care tasks that may hinder
women's ability to work; (ii) Strengthen partnerships and work with national authorities to
build the capacity of all sectors in economic, social, and protection needs for all refugees and
provide funding to local women’s rights and youth organization to assist and represent
refugee populations and address the intersecting barriers to promote gender equality in
displacement contexts; (iii) Ensuring that the host community will not harm the refugees by
providing support to the host community in common needs (water, food, sanitation, etc.), and
assistance to women refugees – such as cash transfers, livelihood opportunities, etc. for social
and economic purposes benefits the host country and society.

References
Kristjansdottir. 2018. Expert’s Take : Women Refugees On The Road Need Strong Advocates
To Protect Their Rights. UN WOMEN For Europe Central Asia Website.
https://eca.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/08/experts-take-iris-bjorg-kristjansdottir

Matt For Peace, Development, and Human Rights. 2019. Gender Dimension in Turkish
Migration Policies and Strategies. Submitted Draft To The Special Rapporteur on The
Human Rights of Migrants.

Scoppa, Federico. 2021. Women. UNHCR Asia Pacific Website.

https://www.unhcr.org/women.html .