What does KA-MER do?

Founded in 1997 in Diyarbakir, together with the 13 different branches in different cities, the women’s centres work towards the KA-MER mission:

To establish what exactly it is within the culture and traditions which are harmful to women and children. To establish the relationship between violence and traditional and cultural ideas (violence and killings under the guise of honour), while supporting victims or possible victims, i.e. women and children. Instead of going against human rights, to improve and apply global human rights norms as an appropriate alternative. To work towards the public appropriating and applying this developed alternative.”

What difference is there in reasoning between the work of women’s rights and those of basic human rights?

There are different and difficult reasons behind the work of women’s rights as opposed to those of basic human rights, because:

In the gender system, the verbal laws are more important than the written laws, these verbal laws are protecting, advancing and re-producing traditional values.

Those who practice and defend this gender system are also those who have created the laws and those who carry out the laws. They can be human rights defenders, as well as our fathers, our husbands, our brothers, our neighbors, our mothers, and those closest to us.

For these reasons, women’s rights defenders, confidants and supporters are aware of this system and having lived through it, are questioning and changing everything. This improvement in awareness is difficult, but not impossible.

For many centuries, women and children have thought of these practices as acceptable and they have become a serious “force of habit”. These practices have to be broken.

For these reasons, while working towards this, we have to keep in mind all the risks involved and improve our defense system. We must break all these habits. We must be able to come to a stage where we can oppose those who have created the law, those who practice it, civil public organizations, sometimes even our friends, our fathers, our loved ones.

What hardships does this organization face?

Listed below are the hardships and dangers that women’s rights defenders have to face on account of the fore-mentioned reasons:

Exclusion, blame and portrayal in a bad light by other civil public organizations. Isolation by their families. Opposition by their closest friends. Attacks and threats by the relations of the children who were given support, and of the women who were victims or possible victims of violence and killings under the guise of honour. Dissuasion, close pursual and deliberate control by authority figures.