Photo credit Council of Europe

This article is written by Cheyenne Williams, a student from Vancouver Island University in a Virtual/Remote Intern/Mentorship through the EleV scholarship program.

 Over the course of July 2020, a wave of women in North America, Brazil and Turkey participated in the hashtag #ChallengeAccepted to promote women’s empowerment. Some have criticized the campaign because there is little involved in the campaign, beyond posting the black and white ‘selfies’ along with the hashtag. Others have commented that it is performative ally-ship because the photos lack impact and further state that posting a selfie does not discuss measures that benefit women or women’s equality, such as influencing employment laws to hire more women, giving visibility to trans-women, differently abled women or women of history, or even signing petitions to improve women’s rights. Conversely, proponents of the hashtag comment that the movement has brought more widespread awareness to a current and ongoing crisis in Turkey surrounding the fight to end violence against women.  

According to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, 2019 Annual Report, 474 women were murdered in Turkey by men in 2019. The platform is comprised of members of the Bar Association, members of the media, family members of victims and members of political parties (serving in parliament or not). The platform’s July 2020 report indicates that 36 women were murdered by men in Turkey, while 11 were found suspiciously dead. Worldwide, rates of violence against women have seen an increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Amnesty International’s Women’s Rights Researcher Anna Błuś, lockdowns and social isolation “…have led to a spike in reports of violence against women and girls with many women and girls trapped at home with their abusers”.

Unfortunately, it is widely understood that many cases go unreported or without reprimand and it is suspected that numbers exceed the figures indicated in the reports. While the pandemic has undoubtedly contributed to violence against women in Turkey, these concerns are a longstanding issues that many people describe as being rooted in systemic misogyny and womens’ rights remain insufficient.

Further exacerbating these issues are the authorities in favour of dismantling the international treaty to end violence against women- the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, otherwise informally known as the Istanbul Convention. While officials such as President Erdogen contest that the treaty should be revoked, the country remains divided with significant predicted number of votes coming from women in the majority party, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP), otherwise known as the Justice and Development Party. August 13, 2020 was set to see the rescheduling of a board meeting for AKP, when discussion took place on whether to withdraw from the convention.

On July 13, Erdoğan signalled the government’s intention to withdraw from the Convention, stating, “Instead of translated texts, we need to determine our frame on our own. Instead of saying Copenhagen criteria, we would say Ankara criteria and proceed on our way”. While the AKP’s platform is built on prioritizing the family system, Erdoğan appears to be using this to his advantage in maintaining support from conservative party members, notes the Foreign Brief, and points out the recent campaigns for “support[ing] women’s grassroots networks and liberalisation of the hijab in official settings.” The article concludes by stating, “The AKP’s reputation as a savior of previously oppressed Muslim women is not at stake, despite the high likelihood that Turkey withdraws from the convention.”

While there appears to be much support in favour of not eliminating the Istanbul Convention, including mass simultaneous protests on August 5 in Turkey, human rights workers face many risks. Add the intersectionality of marginalized people of colour, members of the LGBTQI community, differently abled people and those who identify as a women and the risks can be considered severe, even fatal. It is defined by Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders, “that Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD’s) are generally women engaged in the promotion and protection of human rights.”

It is further stated that, “Women HRDs may be targeted for or exposed to gender-specific threats and violence, including in online and digital contexts, for example through social media, Internet and `ICT platforms. They are at higher risk than men of sexual and gender-based violence, online attacks, cyberstalking, sexual harassment and intimidation.”

As evidenced by critics of the Istanbul Convention, including religious leaders and political leaders, the work of WHRD’s may go against the expectations of their traditional role within family or community, “undermines family values and promotes LGBTI identities…” Others add that “Families are falling apart because of the Istanbul Convention. [Young people] are not marrying and married couples are lining up to divorce.”

It goes on to say in Voices at Risk that, “As a result, the defenders may be subjected to gender and sexual stereotypes, stigmatization or ostracism by community leaders, faith-based groups, families and communities who perceive their work as threatening religion, honour or culture that runs contrary to the laws and customs of society.”

Ultimately the fate of women’s safety appears to be in grave risk if Turkey exits from the Convention. Women’s rights are being dismissed under the guise that what exists because of the current party’s leadership, is good enough. Indirect violence is a direct result of state actors and local authorities using their power to influence policy, putting women’s rights at greater risk. It is evident that any hashtag, including #ChallengeAccepted, cannot enforce laws to penalize or commit perpetrators of violence and murder against women. Whether AKP’s decision to remain within the convention, or to withdraw, appears clear: doing so will require Turkey to formulate a new policy preventing violence against women and currently, this does not exist.

Cheyenne Williams identifies as a cis-gendered Indigenous woman (she/ her), with maternal ties to Nuu-chah-nulth territory and paternal ties to Coast Salish territory. Cheyenne also has colonial settler ties, originating from Wales and England on her maternal side and ties from Scotland and Ireland on her paternal side.

On August 20, the land defenders at 1492 Land Back Lane tweeted: “We call on our allies to continue to amplify our demand for peace and safety.”

These Six Nations land defenders began a re-occupation of their territory on July 19 to uphold their right to free, prior and informed consent and in opposition to the construction of the McKenzie Meadows housing development on unceded lands near the city of Caledonia in the province of Ontario in central Canada.

The 1492 Land Back Lane tweet further notes: “We fear that instead of engaging with us in good faith, [settler politicians including Ontario Premier Doug Ford] have instead chosen to vilify us. This is a tactic meant to legitimize their claims over our territory, and in doing so, they encourage vigilantism.”

That tweet adds: “Members of our community are being targeted on social media by individuals who seek to intimidate us and our supporters and disrupt our fundraising efforts. We have also witnessed vigilantism in the form of surveillance that include following community members in their vehicles, the use of private drones to surveil our community, and emboldened individuals coming to our community to engage in confrontations.”

Earlier this week the customary leaders of the Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse, also known as Iroquois or Six Nations) stated: “The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council is opposed to this [housing] development and as the holder of collective rights for the Haudenosaunee people has not granted any type of consent which would allow this development to proceed.”

The Council is made up of Chiefs from each of the Six Nations — Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora — that form the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

The Chiefs thanked the land defenders who they say are “taking peaceful steps to protect and save the land for our future generations, who will have nowhere to live and prosper if the settler population continues to unlawfully encroach upon our lands.”

For updates, please see 1492 Land Back Lane on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Their legal defence fund asks: “We urge you to donate what you can to assist us in our legal fund to support Land Defenders facing current charges and any future charges that may result from the numerous injunctions against us in this particular issue.”

If you live in the Brantford area, there will be a peaceful rally in front of the Superior Court of Justice (70 Wellington St.) on Tuesday August 25 starting at 8:45 am.

And for a more in-depth discussion on this, please listen to this 48-minute interview by Pam Palmater with land defenders Skyler Williams and Myka Burning where they explain that the land rightfully belongs to Six Nations as part of the Haldimand Tract deed.

Photo: On August 18, Real Peoples Media posted this photo of an Ontario Provincial Police armoured vehicle parked in Caledonia near 1492 Land Back Lane.

Six Nations land defenders began a re-occupation of their territory on July 19 to uphold their right to free, prior and informed consent and in opposition to the construction of the McKenzie Meadows housing development near Caledonia, Ontario.

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) raided the site on August 5 and arrested 9 land defenders, but the re-occupation – named 1492 Land Back Lane – has continued.

On August 7, an Ontario Supreme Court judge issued two more injunctions and extended a third injunction against the land defenders.

The police have not indicated that when these injunctions will be enforced, but on August 18 APTN reported: “Police cruisers pass by [1492 Land Back Lane] as peace officers amass in Caledonia and nearby Hamilton.”

And on August 18 at 5 pm ET, Real Peoples Media posted this photo on Twitter of an OPP armoured vehicle (see above) in Caledonia prompting concerns that it will be used in a police action against the defenders.

APTN has explained: “The people at the camp maintain the land on which McKenzie Meadows sits was never collectively ceded by the Haudenosaunee.”

Numerous legal experts and researchers have also repeatedly pointed to the biased, ahistorical and colonial nature of court injunctions.

But OPP Constable Rodney Leclair says: “The OPP have no role to play in the underlying issues of land disputes and is not in a position to solve them.”

As such, they remain poised to enforce the court injunctions.

Now the customary leaders of the Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse, also known as Iroquois or Six Nations) have stated: “The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council is opposed to this [housing] development and as the holder of collective rights for the Haudenosaunee people has not granted any type of consent which would allow this development to proceed.”

The Council is made up of Chiefs from each of the Six Nations — Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora — that form the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

The Chiefs have thanked the land defenders who they say are “taking peaceful steps to protect and save the land for our future generations, who will have nowhere to live and prosper if the settler population continues to unlawfully encroach upon our lands.”

Early this morning, land defender Skyler Williams posted on Facebook: “Police presence is at an all-time high. The cops have said repeatedly that their only concern is the roads. But trust for them is not one that I give lightly.”

A legal defence fund has been established for the peaceful resistance at 1492 Land Back Lane. It says: “We urge you to donate what you can to assist us in our legal fund to support Land Defenders facing current charges and any future charges that may result from the numerous injunctions against us in this particular issue.”

On August 15, a cabin belonging to Chief Gisday’wa was burned to the ground. The arson took place two days after a local newspaper ran a front-page story that falsely claimed that the cabin had been “left behind” with “no apparent recent use.”

Large convoys of fracked gas pipeline contractors and private security vehicles pass the cabin each day. The road is also patrolled multiple times daily by the police who continue to occupy a remote detachment 2.5 kilometres past the site of the arson.

Gidimt’en spokesperson Sleydo’ says: “It’s absolutely racist. I think it’s white supremacists in the local communities. [It’s] a well-known history and experience of Wet’suwet’en people to have been burned out of their homes and out of their cabins off the territory.”

Gidimt’en is one of five clans within the Wet’suwet’en nation in British Columbia, Canada.

The TC Energy-owned Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline megaproject would cross 190 kilometres of Wet’suwet’en territory without the free, prior and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en peoples and their hereditary chiefs.

Wet’suwet’en land defenders have been criminalized and arrested in large-scale militarized police raids on their territories in January 2019 and February 2020.

Next month, clearing and grading of the fracked gas pipeline route is expected to begin near the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre and an influx of workers is expected in the near future at Coastal GasLink’s 9A Lodge work camp (man camp) raising further concerns about the security situation for Wet’suwet’en women and girls.

The full statement on the arson attack from the Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidimt’en Territory can be read here.

For more, please see the Gidimt’en Yintah Access website, and follow the Gidimt’en Checkpoint Instagram page, the Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidimt’en Territory Facebook page, and Gidimt’en Checkpoint on Twitter.

“INVASIÓN es cortometraje sobre el Campamento Unist’ot’en, la bloqueada Gidimt’en y la Nación Wet’suwet’en, luchando en contra del gobierno Canadiense y la corporaciones que continúan la violencia colonial en contra de los pueblos Indígenas.”

Para ver este video de 18 minutos con subtítulos en español, haga clic aquí.