The Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye was accredited with B status by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions.

Within the scope of the ROMSID project, IT-based monitoring and evaluation system was developed.

This system will provide an effective monitoring and evaluation of the National Strategy Document and Action Plans for Roma People via data received from all relevant public institutions. 

In the awareness-raising event held in Izmir for three days within the project, non-governmental organizations shared their opinions on the draft Strategy Document for Roma People.

Within the Ombudsman Project, regional workshops were held in order to raise awareness of the public with regard to the Ombudsman Institution. The beneficiary continued the study visits to EU member states to examine good practices and exchange information. 

Moreover, the International Knowledge and Experience Sharing Conference on Migration and Human Rights was held in Istanbul on 9-11 November 2022.

The closing ceremony of the project was held on 21 September 2022 in Ankara. The whole school model concept, which was started to be implemented in 110 pilot schools in 10 provinces, is extended to 373 schools. 

The beneficiary of the project  organized the Strategic Planning Meeting on 16 November 2022 in Kızılcahamam/Ankara. During the meeting, the stakeholders discussed policy recommendations for dissemination of good practices and elimination of the challenges encountered during pilot implementation.

Within the project, study visits were organized to Strasbourg/France in June and July. Moreover, an international conference was held with more than 200 participants on the 10th anniversary of the individual application to the Constitutional Court. 

In addition, regional meetings and roundtables were held within the capacity-building activities for the judges and prosecutors.

The website of the Technical Assistance Project for the Supporting Children's Rights in Türkiye, also known as “Özne Çocuk” is online! 

You can reach out the information on the project activities via https://oznecocuk.com/

The first major awareness-raising event of the Özne Çocuk Project was held in Çanakkale on 12 June 2022 on the World Day Against Child Labour.

Within the project, workshops were held to analyze the programs and activities implemented by the pilot public institutions from the perspective of equality between women and men. 

In this scope, various budget programs of the Ministry of Family and Social Services, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Directorate for EU Affairs and the Turkish Employment Agency are being analyzed.

The "Regulation on a Single Market for Digital Services", shortly known as the "Digital Services Act", was published in the EU Official Journal on 27 October 2022. The implementation of the Regulation by EU member states will start on 17 February 2024.

The Regulation introduces rules to prevent illegal content in the digital environment and to protect the fundamental rights of internet users.

Thus, online platforms across the EU are envisaged to take an active role in preventing the dissemination of illegal and harmful content via enhanced transparency and accountability.

The Regulation also sets forth certain restrictions on use of children's personal data and personal data that can be considered sensitive in advertising, while prohibits misleading interfaces and applications.

The EU established the helpline 116 016 for the victims of violence against women.

Women who are victims of violence will be able to call the same number across the EU to get advice and support. The deadline for EU member states to reserve the common EU number to connect to national helplines is end of April 2023.

2022 Evaluation Report shows that all IT companies improved frequency and quality of feedback to users flagging hateful content while most of them had a slowdown on removal and review times for hate speech notifications. Anti-gypsyism (16.8%), xenophobia (16.3%), antisemitism (9.9%) and anti-Muslim (8.7%) are among the most commonly reported grounds of hate speech.

The European Commission published a Proposal for a “European Media Freedom Act” on 16 September 2022. The proposal includes holistic provisions for the protection of media freedom, pluralism, transparency and integrity.

Once the proposal is in force, it will be the first regulation exclusively focused on media freedom at the EU level.

The Proposal for the Regulation envisages establishing a new independent “European Board for Media Services”, comprised of national media authorities, and to cooperate with candidate and potential candidate countries.

In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 8.7 to eradicate forced labour, the European Commission released a proposal for a regulation to prohibit the placing and making available on the EU market and export from the EU of products made with forced labour. 

According to the proposal, national authorities will be authorized to withdraw products made with forced labour from the EU market following an investigation. 

In this framework, EU customs authorities will be authorized for detection and stopping of products made with forced labour at EU borders.

Proposal for Artificial Intelligence Liability Directive, which was released on 28 September 2022 by the European Commission, introduces new rules to mitigate the risks generated by specific uses of AI and to ensure respect of fundamental rights and security. 

The proposal envisages new provisions regarding the compensation of damages that may be caused by human rights violations due to the use of artificial intelligence and the elimination of specific difficulties of proof.

Amendment to the Regulation No 1141/2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations is now on the agenda of the EU.

Proposal for Regulation foresees measures such as increasing the contribution to parties and foundations from the EU budget, limiting foreign intervention by putting a cap on financial contributions outside the EU, and strengthening gender equality within political parties. The proposal aims to have a more transparent and participatory election period for European Parliament  in 2024. 

The Regulation is planned to be amended by 2023 fall.

The European Parliament adopted a Resolution dated 15 September 2022 on the situation of fundamental rights in the EU in 2020 and 2021. The resolution evaluates the implementation of fundamental rights in the EU and calls on EU member states to better protect freedom, equality and the rule of law.

The Resolution underlines that the restrictive measures taken in 2020 and 2021 within the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic have negative effects on fundamental rights and caused an increase in racist incidents in particular affecting vulnerable groups while addresses the violations of fundamental rights against migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

In the Resolution, the European Parliament calls on EU institutions and member states to combat the roots of structural racism, stating that the fight against this problem should be implemented together with measures in criminal justice, education, housing, health care and employment.