During the first week of the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council, IFOR held a side event titled “Human rights in Turkey”.
The event was moderated by IFOR Fellow, Martina Lanza and featured the following panelists:
- Ugur Bilkay is a conscientious objector and refugee in Italy who comes from the Turkish part of Kurdistan. He told the story of his conscientious objection and his journey as illegal migrant across the European borders.
- Derek Brett. IFOR main representative at UN Geneva. He illustrated the Turkish militarism and gave an overview of the most recent European Court of Human Rights decisions regarding conscientious objectors.
Questions were asked by those attending the event and there was an exchange related to the relationship between Conscientious Objection and Minority Rights.