Human Rights Council: 49th Session of the Universal Periodic Review - Türkiye

Mr Vice-President,

We warmly welcome the delegation from Türkiye.

New Zealand welcomes the increase in female political representation during this review period and recent progress towards the disarmament of, and end to the violence by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. We also commend Türkiye for its generous hosting of 3.5 million refugees.

New Zealand recommends that Türkiye:

1. Strengthen measures to protect freedom of expression, including amending the Anti-Terror Law to ensure that journalists, lawyers, and civil society are not unjustly targeted;  
2. Take steps to address structural barriers to freedom of association and assembly, including ensuring that authorities are not arbitrarily banning protests or assemblies of constituencies; and
3. Strengthen efforts to uphold the principles of gender equality.

We thank the delegation for their participation today and wish them a successful review.

Thank you Mr Vice-President.