A total of 273 (161 women and 112 men) legal aid lawyers from six bar associations (Bursa, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Tunceli and Malatya) participated in the kick-off event of the second round of the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) course on "Access to justice for women". The kick-off event was organised with the support of the European Union and the Council of Europe, through their joint action “Fostering women's access to justice in Türkiye”. The first round ran from 10 July – 15 September with 223 lawyers trained.

The HELP course on “Access to justice for women” was translated and adopted to the local context in 2022 during the first phase of the action “Fostering women’s access to justice in Turkey”. This year, a specific module on women’s access to justice in the aftermath of natural disasters has been added, as a response to the earthquake Türkiye faced in February 2023.

These training series mark a significant milestone towards the provision of gender-sensitive legal aid and contribute to strengthening women’s access to justice in Türkiye by increasing the capacity of legal professionals to provide gender-responsive legal services. Following the completion of this second round of implementation in November, the trained lawyers from all eight pilot bar associations will be delivering legal aid services to women within the scope of the grant scheme to be launched by the action in partnership with the Union of Turkish Bar Associations.

The event was organised with the support of the European Union and the Council of Europe by the action “Fostering women's access to justice in Türkiye” which is part of the European Union and Council of Europe’s joint programme "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye". The action contributes to enhancing the accessibility and quality of legal aid services for women and supporting key stakeholders, including civil society, as well as to increase legal awareness and literacy among women in Türkiye.