On 28 January 2016, the Draft Law on Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey was referred by the Prime Ministry Directorate General for Laws and Decrees to the Speaker’s Office of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. After six-day long deliberations held at the Plenary of the Assembly, the draft law was accepted on 6 April with 259 “yes” and 32 “no” votes. The Law on Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey came into force when published in the Official Gazette on 20 April 2016.

On 5 February, the draft law was referred to the primary and secondary committees of the Assembly. The Committee on Human Rights Enquiry as the primary committee and the Committe on Equal Opportunity for Women and Men as one of the secondary committees issued their reports on the draft law. Both committees accepted the draft law with the majority of votes with five “objections” and three “dissenting opinions” in the Committee on Equal Opportunity for Women and Men and five “objections” and four “dissenting opinions” in the Committee on Human Rights Enquiry. 

As stated in its first article, the law aims “to establish the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey that carries out activities for protecting and improving human rights, ensuring the right to equal treatment of persons, preventing discrimination in enjoying rights and freedoms recognized by law and acting in accordance with these principles, effectively combating torture and ill-treatment and functioning as the national prevention mechanism in this regard.” 

During the deliberations on the draft law in the Plenary of the Grand National Assembly, civil society organizations initiated a campaign with the slogan “Human Rights Cannot Be Protected with this Law!” in order to object to the enactment of the law as it is drafted. CSOs working in the area of human rights, equality and non-discrimination pointed out that the structure that the draft law aims to establish and its perceived framework do not have the possibility to fulfil the objective and function as outlined in the rationale of the draft law. CSOs made the call that legislation regarding frameworks and structures for protecting human rights, preventing torture and ill-treatment, combating discrimination and ensuring equality should be re-addressed in the committees of the National Assembly with the wider participation of CSOs. CSOs also called for bringing legislation into conformity with Turkey’s obligations and international standards by taking into account the needs of groups who are under risk of discrimination.