Marking Human Rights Day on December 10, the Bilkent University Human Rights Studies Application and Research Center (Bilkent Human Rights Center) organized a panel titled “Legal and Administrative Mechanisms for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.” The event focused on the challenges persons with disabilities face in daily life, rights-based approaches to the issues and the available administrative and legal remedies for seeking justice.
Moderated by Prof. Ece Göztepe, a faculty member at the Bilkent University Faculty of Law and Board Member of the Bilkent Human Rights Center, the panel featured contributions from experts across public, academic and legal fields. Accordingly, Senior Specialist Ayşe Zararsız from the Ombudsperson Institution presented on “The Role of the Ombudsman in Protecting Disability Rights;” Assoc. Prof. Dilşad Çiğdem Sever from Ankara University Faculty of Law discussed “Obligations of the Administration in Light of Decisions and General Comments by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;” and Atty. Arzu Şenyurt Akdağ from the Union of Turkish Bar Associations Disability Rights Commission presented “The Reflection of Judicial Decisions in Practice within the Scope of Disability Rights.”
A notable aspect of the panel was its commitment to accessibility. For the first time, the Bilkent Human Rights Center implemented a real-time speech-to-text projection system to ensure full access for participants with disabilities. This feature allowed attendees to follow the presentations via text on screen simultaneously.
