Hülya Gülbahar receives Human Rights Tulip

The Human Rights Tulip is awarded annually by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support human rights defenders in their work: highlighting, protecting, and improving human rights worldwide. The winner of the Human Rights Tulip receives a tulip-shaped bronze statue and a monetary prize, enabling the winner to continue and possibly expand their human rights work.

Minister Bruins Slot: “Human rights are one of the most important tools at our disposal to tackle the major problems of our time: think of war, poverty, climate change. But without action, human rights are just words and phrases from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The nominees for the Human Rights Tulip know this all too well. With their tireless dedication, these human rights defenders truly make a difference for people and society.”

Hülya Gülbahar is a feminist lawyer who has contributed for over 40 years to the womens rights movement and the defense of human rights in Turkey. Gülbahar founded Equality Watch Womens Group (EŞİTİZ) and the Womens Platform for Equality Türkiye (EŞİK). Both organizations provide legal analyses of legislative proposals or amendments concerning women and LGBTIQ+ themes, conduct awareness campaigns on issues such as combating violence against women and domestic violence, and engage in social mobilization of the Turkish feminist movement.

Read more: interview with Hülya Gülbahar about her work and winning the Human Rights Tulip.

“For over 40 years, Hülya Gülbahar has been committed to womens rights in Turkey. She fights injustice with robust legal expertise and an influential network – mainly composed of women – that cannot be ignored. And with great success. Thanks to people like Hülya, the voices advocating for human rights are heard. That deserves our support,” said Minister Bruins Slot.

Read the speech by Minister Bruins Slot at the Human Rights Tulip award ceremony (in English).

Other nominees

The other two nominees for the Human Rights Tulip were Julienne Baseke and Claudelice dos Santos. Julienne Baseke is a journalist and human rights defender advocating for womens rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As a journalist, she founded the South Kivu Association of Women in the Media to increase visibility and participation of women in the media sector of the DRC.

Claudelice dos Santos, a human rights and environmental activist from the Amazon region, is the founder of the Ze Claudio e Maria Institute, which focuses on protecting indigenous land, environmental, and human rights defenders by providing a safe shelter.