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  • Project Overview

Perspectives on Business and Human Rights in Turkey

Business and human rights is a concept that refers to the relationship between businesses and the fundamental human rights of individuals and communities affected by business activities. It recognizes that businesses have a responsibility to respect and promote human rights in their operations and throughout their global value chains.

Business and human rights in Türkiye present a range of challenges and ongoing efforts, and several human rights issues intersect with business activities. While Türkiye has laws and regulations addressing human rights, implementation and enforcement can be inconsistent, particularly regarding freedom of expression, media freedom, and labour rights. Issues such as forced labour, occupational health and safety, freedom of association, and gender equality require specific attention. Environmental challenges, including those due to climate change, pollution and deforestation, pose risks to communities’ rights to a clean environment and to their livelihoods. Collaborative efforts among the Turkish government, businesses, civil society, and communities are crucial to promote transparency, dialogue, and the implementation of international standards for responsible business conduct in Türkiye.

In the series Perspectives on Business and Human Rights in Türkiye, created and maintained with the financial support of the European Union provided under Etkiniz EU Programme, Minerva assesses business and human rights related matters from the perspectives of child rights, labour rights, women rights and environmental rights.

Project

Perspectives on Business and Human Rights

Project Partner

Etkiniz EU Programme

Status
Completed

This memorandum aims to analyse the relationship between children’s rights and business while reflecting the most prominent current problems, and to guide the stakeholders, but with a limitation of scope in terms of subject matter and time. In this extent, children’s rights are examined within the scope of corporate activities, and the worst forms of child labour are discussed with particular focus on international and national regulations and policies. As explained in detail below, among the worst three forms of child labour as identified in the National Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (2017-2023), hazardous and heavy work sectors and seasonal agriculture are the areas which the focus will be on; and “working in the street” which is another form of child labour leading to the most severe violations of children’s rights, is not analysed in this memorandum. Furthermore, even though child labour has been standing as a problem on both global and national level for long years, news and reports referred to hereunder are limited only with those related to the Covid-19 period with reference to the “Covid-19 and Child Labour: A Time of Crisis, a Time to Act” report published in 2020 by UNICEF and the International Labour Organization (ILO) which clearly proves that Covid-19 has resulted in an increase in child labour.

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This memorandum analyses the relationship of employment with business and human rights in Turkey with particular emphasis on the impacts of the Covid-19 period on employment and evaluates lines of work affected by the Covid-19 period and employment issues within the scope of informal economy, gig economy, occupational health and safety and union rights. To this extent, current problems are examined under specific main topics in the light of international regulations to which Turkey is a party as well as national regulations and policies; while other issues concerning employment affected by the Covid-19 period such as child labour, women’s labour, healthcare employees and home workers are excluded. Problems and abuses of rights faced by employees throughout business enterprises’ activities and current and prevailing issues in this respect are analysed by means of general research and by screening media and other publicly available resources relating to the Covid-19 period.
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This memorandum analyses the relationship between gender inequality, women’s rights and business with a particular focus on women’s rights and discrimination in work life within the scope of international and national regulations and policies, looks into women’s rights within the framework of corporate activities, and examines gender-related impacts of business and multinational companies as well as problems and violations of rights faced by women in their work life, through a review on press and other public sources in the Covid-19 period so as to reflect current and outstanding problems.
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Through a Turkey-specific examination of the goal of protection of the environment from the perspective of business and human rights, this memorandum aims to draw attention to Turkey’s problems in this respect. Within this framework, in the first section of the report, international and national legislation on environmental law are examined within the context of business and human rights. In the second section, primary problems concerning the protection of the environment are identified with an analysis of current events in Turkey that have attracted the attention of the public, which are accessed upon scanning the news in the press and the reports issued by non- governmental organisations. Finally, in the recommendations section, suggestions for solutions are provided on the basis of the findings.
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