A total of 212 legal aid lawyers from five bar associations (Bilecik, Hatay, Sinop, Kahramanmaraş, and Malatya) participated in the kick-off event to launch the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) course on "Access to justice for women". The kick-off event was organised with the support of the European Union and the Council of Europe, through their joint action “Fostering women's access to justice in Türkiye”.

The  HELP course on “Access to justice for women” was translated and adopted to the local context in 2022 during the first phase of the action “Fostering women’s access to justice in Turkey”. This year a specific module on women’s access to justice in the aftermath of a natural disasters has been added, as a response to the earthquake Türkiye faced in February 2023.

Elisabeth Duban, international gender consultant, shared reflections on the course and its implementation in different countries. Prof. Gulriz Uygur, national tutor, presented the topic of women’s access to justice in Türkiye with emphasis on provision of legal aid to women victims of natural disasters. Five certified HELP tutors with expertise in gender equality presented the course objectives and main course activities.

The lawyers who successfully complete the course will provide legal aid services to women in five pilot provinces. The action will launch new HELP courses in the next following months to three additional provinces. The training marks a significant milestone towards the provision of gender-sensitive legal aid and contribute to strengthen women’s access to justice in Türkiye.

The action on “Fostering women's access to justice in Türkiye” is part of the European Union and Council of Europe’s joint programme "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye". The action contributes to enhancing accessibility and quality of legal aid services for women and supporting key stakeholders, including civil society, as well as to increase legal awareness and literacy among women in Türkiye.