On 10 December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated in the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. Human rights organizations in Turkey and North Kurdistan organised a “Human Rights Week” to mark the anniversary. To end the human rights week, the human rights association IHD and the Foundation for Human Rights in Turkey, TIHV, held a rally in the center of Istanbul in front of the organizations' representations. The rally under the slogan "Human rights now and here" took place surrounded by police. The activists carried lights with which symbolically illuminated the darkness.

The chairwoman of the Istanbul office of the IHD, lawyer Gülseren Yoleri, talked about the global human rights situation and underlined the struggle of the “Black Lives Matter” movement after the murder of George Floyd. The lawyer then drew a connection to the violations of the law in Turkey and in particular in the prisons and said, rephrasing George Floyd's last words before his asphyxiation: "Let human rights breathe".

"Governments are responsible for human rights violations"

Yoleri pointed to the worsening human rights situation around the world against the background of the coronavirus pandemic. There is literally a lack of “air to breathe,” she said. The increasing unemployment, poverty, discrimination in the health system, violence against women, child abuse, the eroding on freedom of expression had once again shown the importance of human rights. "Truth is something that people need like air to breathe and is hidden," Yoleri said. “We have seen that prisoners, whose life and health is entrusted to the state, have to die and rights are taken away from the state. The robbery of old-age pension, short-time work and home-working are used as an opportunity to further institutionalize the exploitation of labor. The weakness of the economy is concealed, the responsibility is put on the pandemic instead of naming the real culprits, the war economy and the speculative projects. And in the end poor should pay the bill." Yoleri assigned responsibility for the catastrophic human rights situation to the government and declared:" Stop violating the law, we have a right to a decent life. "

"We will achieve a world without torture"

The TIHV representative for Istanbul, Ümit Efe, with reference to the police presence at the rally, said: "The picture that is shown here in this street is a miniature representation of the human rights situation in this country."

Efe spoke about the obstacles to human rights work in Turkey: “They want to silence our voice and prevent the truth from getting justice. We see that our demands for justice are not being heard and attempts are being made to suppress them. We say clearly that we will definitely fight for a world without torture. We will fight a struggle to build an equitable, free and democratic future based on the ethical values ​​of the struggle for human rights. We will be able to breathe again, and we will be the voices of those who are prevented from breathing."