Human Rights Therapy: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Human Rights Education

Human Rights Therapy: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Human Rights Education İlkerGökhanŞen

Why “Therapy”? • Xenophobia • Intolerance: • Political, • Religious and • Sexual • Bigotry/Ignorance/Prejudice;

Why Therapy? Intolerance “Whoever is found conducting himself in the filthy manner of the people of Lot (Sodom and Gomorrah), kill the doer and the receiver” A poster hang on the streets of İstanbul by a fundamentalist group following the Pride, 2015, İstanbul

Why Therapy: The Problem of Judicial Independence • Mindset among the judges: “JudicialEtatism” (Sancar and Atılgan, 2009:4) • allergy of the West • an isolationist nationalist mindset • nationalist reflex “Whenever the interests of the state are at stake we somewhat tend to ignore the Justice” (excerpt from an interview with a judge)

Why Therapy? Three Aspects of Human Rights Education: 1. Knowledge 2. Skills 3. Attitudes and Values

TWO COMPONENTS OF THE THERAPHY Gestalt Group Therapy Interactive Teaching Methods.

Sources for Interactive Teaching Methods Patricia Brender, et. al., “Manual for Human Rights Education with Young People”, Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing, 2012. http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/eycb/Source/Compass_2012_FINAL.pdf David Mcquoid-Mason and Robin Palmer, “African Law Clinician’s Manual”, 2012 http://cdom.rau.ro/download/Biblioteca/African%20Law%20Clnicians'%20Manual-%20Part%201[1]%202013%20(1).pdf

Gestalt Therapy Gestalt therapy is: Experiential and existential Gestalt Therapy focuses on: Personal responsibility Self-Awaraness of the reasons of one’s opinions and attitudes.

Gestalt Group Therapy an Activity • Two volunteers • One, defends the idea no matter what. • The other rejects the idea no matter what. • Evaluation

Questions asked to participants before and after the Gestalt Group 1 Please rate the following questions from 1 to 5. ( 1=Totally disagree---- 5= Totally agree) I try to find the best point of view for every matter. I believe some people are superior than others. I think there is a difference of opinion and values between the people belonging to different ethnic groups. I accept everybody whatever his/her sexual orientation is. I find it hard to understand other people’s arguments

Questions asked to participants before and after the Gestalt Group 2 Empathy is… Topics I am prejudiced against are… Individual differences I could most easily understand are… In an argument, I expect the other party to… In an argument, I expect myself to…

Did it make a change? • I realize now that… • I am aware now that… • I know now that… • I understand now that… • I have discovered that…

“All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.” (Edmund Burke) • The most valuable contribution of the workshop according to the participants: • People with different ideas may exist together.

Listening and understanding different ideas doesn’t hurt! "Freedom of expression...is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population” (Handyside v. UK ECtHR)

Component 2: Interactive Teaching Methods. Knots (Ice Breaker) ! Take a step forward ! Act it out ! Who I are ! Get into line( ice breaker) Let’s talk about sex!

Take A step Forward: Feedbacks I was born into a family who had serious economic difficulties. I had to work as a shepherd since my childhood to meet my school expenses....When one is poor, he is humiliated so much by the wealthy people, and then he thinks that all the well-off people are arrogant and pompous. However this time, I observed from first hand that everybody, may encounter human rights abuses including those who were born with a silver spoon in mouth. This activity taught me that every person, regardless of sex, age, race or economic power, may face human right violations.

Take a Step Forward: Feedbacks “This is the first time that I read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in a matter of minutes I almost memorized it by heart”

“Let’s Talk About Sex !” Why? • LGBTI rights are indispensable for all of the human rights. • "We are at the stage of 'Please don't kill us’, '"We don't discuss equal marriage or employment rights or whatever. We are just demanding our basic human rights." (SevvalKilic- a transgender activist talking to CNN) • “Homosexual activity is not prohibited, but LGBT people are subject to widespread discrimination, police harassment, and occasional violence.” (Freedom House, Turkey 2015 Country Report)

“Let’s Talk About Sex!” Why? • Women’s Rights: • “The constitution grants women full equality before the law, but the World Economic Forum ranked Turkey 125 out of 142 countries surveyed in its 2014 Global Gender Gap Index.” (Freedom House, Turkey 2015 Country Report)

Obscenity: One of the main pretexts used to violate the freedoms of: Speech, Art, Internet, Association, Demonstration “This film is in the porn category … because of its explicit sexual scenes,” (cinema general director CemErkul) I believe homosexuality is a biological disorder, a disease,” S. AliyeKavaf, Former Minister of Family

How Do Turkish Authorities See Sex? ( and the gender issues) • Ex-Prime Minister R.T.Erdogan: • "You cannot make men and women equal !” • “Our religion has given women the calling of motherhood … feminists cannot understand that!” • “I don’t know if she was a girl or woman” (referring to the virginity of the victim of police brutality.) • “Don’t be so picky, marry whenever you have an offer” • “Anything can happen when it is mixed…All kinds of messy things are happening”

How Do Turkish Authorities See Sex! ( and the gender issues) • Ex-Deputy Prime Minister B. Arınç • " A women should not laugh loudly in front of all the world and should preserve her decency at all times,” • “I got extremely embarrassed during the abortion discussions when you as a married woman with children, openly spoke of one of your organs.”

Activity: Let’s Talk About Sex! Beginning: A warm up speech. The aim: To be able to talk about anything related to sex and sexuality with serenity. Method: Anonymous questions discussed with the “fish-bowl technique”

Questions 1 : • How can gay people manage to satisfy themselves by each other’s identical sexual organs? • Is it normal to have sex before marriage? • Is orgasm and ejaculation different in men? • Homosexuality and Transsexuality… Are they inborn features in a person? • How do you feel when you see a transsexual?

Questions 2: • Does “forbidden relationship” (extramarital?) come out of love, or is it only a matter of (carnal) pleasure? • I wonder this very much: Do some men choose other men as their partners, because they get more pleasure to have sex with men than with women? Is “gayhood” related to feelings, or is it a mere pursuit of (carnal) pleasure.

Outcomes 1: Ignorance is not Bliss! • “I didn’t know the difference between a ‘transsexual’ and a ‘transvestite’ before this activity.” • “This activity showed us that we are all ignorant about gender issues particularly those related to the sexual orientation!”

Outcomes 2: • “It was awesome….first time in my life have I talked about “gender-hood” in public • “We learned that saying the word “sex” is not something to be ashamed of.” • “I have overcome my unnecessary fears (as I have just realized) about those (LGBTI) people.” • “I really liked that everyone spoke about sex so bluntly without being embarrassed.”

Challenges and Opportunities • Is human rights therapy sustainable? • Whom it may serve? (children ,adolescents, university students, junior-senior professionals?) • Can we include the “human rights therapy” in law school curricula? • Can it take a particular form of street law? • Co-operation? Can we create an international-universal human rights therapy?

Thanks!İlkerGökhanŞen Freedom of speech for all comments and remarks is 100% guaranteed !  E-mail: igokhansen@gmail.com igsen@anadolu.edu.tr

Human Rights Therapy: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Human Rights Education