For Immediate Release – November 12, 2021
2021 ATAA UN Related Announcement #6

ASSEMBLY OF TURKISH AMERICAN ASSOCIATIONS (ATAA) &
ATAA COMMITTEE ON UN RELATIONS PROUDLY PRESENT ONLINE PROGRAM ON:

“VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN:
FUND, PREVENT, RESPOND!”
In Support of UN 2021 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women(25 November) &
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 5: Gender Equality

Virtual Event
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2021
12:00pm-2:00pm EST | 9:00am-11:00am PST | 20:00-22:00 TR
Language: English

Please REGISTER in advance by clicking on the following link:
https://rotf.lol/FundPreventRespond
All registered attendees will receive a link to join the webinar.

T E N T A T I V E  P R O G R A M

Welcoming Remarks by TUFAN ERDİNÇ
ATAA Northwest Region Vice President

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
ALIA EL-YASSIR
UN Women Regional Director for Europe and
Central Asia and Representative to Turkey

SPEAKERS:
MARYAM KAMAL ELDIN
Executive Director, Asians Against Domestic Abuse (AADA), Houston, U.S.;
Empowering Asian and Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Region Women

AYDA KAZAK
Advocate & Outreach Coordinator
Asians Against Domestic Abuse (AADA)

YASUKO TANAKA
Advocate & Outreach Coordinator
Asians Against Domestic Abuse (AADA)

FATMA AYTAÇ
Chairwoman, Red Pepper Association (Kırmızı Biber Dernegi)
Founder, Chairwoman and UN-Focal Point; Kadın Partisi (Women’s Party) Founder and Co-Chair

DENİZ SIDALI, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist

ALEV WIELAND
ATAA Southwest Region Vice President, Member of the ATAA UN Committee

Closing Remark by BİRCAN ÜNVER
Chair, ATAA Committee on UN Relations, ATAA New York Region VP &
Founder & President of The Light Millennium/Head Rep. to the UNDGC_CSO

MODERATOR:
SAİME ATAKAN KASIM, Esq.
Attorney at law licensed in California and Turkey.

CO-MODERATOR:
MERT ARIKAN
ATADC Board member

INTRODUCTION:

In support of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November) and Sustainable Development Goal#5: Gender Equality, the Assembly of Turkish American Associations and the ATAA Committee on UN Relations proud to present a webinar on “Violence against Women: Fund, Prevent, Respond!” on Sunday, November 21, 2021 at 12:00pm–2:00pm (EDT).

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is the United Nations’ principal vehicle to encourage the End Violence against Women campaign, and to prevent one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations, Violence against women and girls.

Knowledge may save lives. Know the definition of violence, the organizations that help women in legal procedures, know the local organizations may help victims to return the daily life.

Theme of this year: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!

ATAA and the UN Committee bring together UN-Women, experts in the “prevention” area from civil society along with NGO representatives who work on the awareness arena in support of the #ViolenceAgainstWomen Day and related program and campaigns of the UN-Women along with toward contributing Sustainable Development Goal#5.

WHY WE MUST ELIMINATE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN*

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it.

In general terms, it manifests itself in physical, sexual and psychological forms, encompassing:

• intimate partner violence (battering, psychological abuse, marital rape, femicide);
• sexual violence and harassment (rape, forced sexual acts, unwanted sexual advances, child sexual abuse, forced marriage, street harassment, stalking, cyber- harassment);
• human trafficking (slavery, sexual exploitation);
• female genital mutilation; and
• child marriage.

To further clarify, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”

* Source: https://www.un.org/en/observances/ending-violence-against-women-day

A DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Women’s rights activists have observed 25 November as a day against gender-based violence since 1981. This date was selected to honour the Mirabal sisters, three political activists from the Dominican Republic who were brutally murdered in 1960 by order of the country’s ruler, Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).

On 20 December 1993, the General Assembly adopts the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women through resolution 48/104, paving the path towards eradicating violence against women and girls worldwide.

Finally, on 7 February 2000, the General Assembly adopts resolution 54/134, officially designating 25 November as the International day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and in doing so, inviting governments, international organizations as well as NGOs to join together and organize activities designed to raise public awareness of the issue every year on that date.

Source: https://www.un.org/en/observances/ending-violence-against-women-day/background

BIOGRAPHIES:

Keynote Speaker:

 ALIA EL-YASSIR

Alia El-Yassir was appointed as UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia in September 2018 and in this capacity also serves as UN Women Representative to Turkey. She has been working on gender equality and women’s empowerment within the United Nations system since the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. She has extensive experience of working as UN Women Representative at country level managing normative, coordination and operational work within complex contexts that span the development, humanitarian and political continuum. She has also served at HQ level supporting UN Women’s global programmatic work. In her country, regional and global roles, she has built strong partnerships with and among diverse groups of stakeholders to advance the rights of women and girls. Before joining the UN system, Ms. El-Yassir worked as a teacher and developed educational media for children, in addition to volunteering with a number of women’s and human rights non-governmental organizations. Alia El-Yassir holds a BSc degree in Biology (with a specialization in Ecology) from McGill University and a MSc degree in Desert Studies (with a specialization in Gender Studies) from Ben Gurion University of the Negev. (Photo credit: Ventura Formicone)

Speakers:

MARYAM KAMAL ELDIN

Maryam Kamal Eldin is published researcher, accomplished advocate and presenter with extensive knowledge in gender equality, human rights, and development. At the age of sixteen, she got her start with gender equality and anti-DV advocacy. With the guidance of her mentor Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, a pioneer in women’s rights we established the Union of Egyptian Women, the union had a chapter in the States. They worked on public education, outreach, and legislation. In 2006 she joined the Human Rights Development Center in Cairo, Egypt. She had the opportunity to continue and expand her work when she joined Asians Against Domestic Abuse in 2011. I have been part of AADA for over 10 years, working towards removing linguistic and cultural barriers for folks from Greater Asia (including the Middle East & North Africa) experiencing domestic violence. She has built a network and team of individuals able to provide language-specific assistance and advocacy that comes from within the community and had the opportunity to develop and watch AADA grow. She has extensive knowledge and experience working with the underserved population that have specific cultural needs, limited language accessibility, and immigration concerns.

AYDA KAZAK

Ayda Kazak has been an Advocate and Outreach Coordinator with AADA since 2019. Ayda has a certificate in Victim Advocacy and also specializes in Relationship Development Intervention for autism. She speaks English, Turkish, Arabic, Kazakh and Farsi and provides supportive case management. Ayda mediates and organizes webinars to educate the community about domestic abuse prevention and counseling. Ayda is working towards getting a master’s degree in marriage and family counseling and hopes to use that to further her advocacy abilities.

YASUKO TANAKA

Yasuko Tanaka is AADA’s Advocate and Outreach Coordinator. Yasuko provides domestic violence advocacy services in Japanese. She received a JD from the School of Law and worked as a legal apprentice for the Supreme Court of Japan, was a practicing attorney at law in Japan, and volunteered for the child abuse hotline of the Japanese Federation Bar Association. She moved to Boston, MA in 2013 and volunteered with JB line as a legal advisor and case manager for DV victims. She enjoys gardening with her family in her free time. In her work with AADA, she hopes to prevent isolation and eliminate all forms of violence in the local Japanese community.

FATMA AYTAÇ

Fatma Aytac graduated from Bosphorus University Industrial Engineering in 1982. Worked as an industrial engineer for 25 years in the private sector, 15 years as IT Manager, and last 5 years as CEO of a Turkish conglomerate. Red Pepper Association(Kırmızı Biber Dernegi) Founder, Chairwoman and UN-Focal Point. Kadın Partisi (Women’s Party) Founder and Co-Chair, KA.DER (Association for Supporting Women Candidates) former General Secretary. Volunteer member of Women’s Coalition of Turkey, Eşik Platform (Women’s Platform for Equality) of Turkey, and US Women’s Caucus at UN. She currently resides in New Jersey, and works to energize the Turkish Women’s Civil Society movement among Turkish American women through outreach.

DENİZ SIDALI, Ph.D.

Deniz Sidali received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from New York University. Dr. Sidali earned her second Master of Arts and Doctorate from Hofstra University. Dr. Sidali has extensive experience treating a broad spectrum of clinically diverse populations while working in a myriad of capacities and roles within the field of psychology for over twenty-five years. Dr. Sidali has specific expertise in the treatment of anxiety and stress related disorders. She is currently working as a psychologist for the New York City Police Department where she provides psychological assessment within a forensic setting. Dr. Sidali provides critical stress debriefing in the NYPD’s trauma unit within their medical division. Dr. Sidali has extensive training in evidence based treatment approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapies inclusive of prolonged exposure therapy, the standard line of treatment for trauma related disorders. Dr. Sidali has worked in both intensive inpatient and outpatient psychiatric units, private practice, community outreach, provided clinical supervision, and served as a consultant. Her research interests have focused on anxiety based disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, body dysmorphic disorder and clinical drug trials to name just a few.

ASSEMBLY OF TURKISH AMERICAN ASSOCIATIONS

The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), representing over 50 local chapters and 500,000 Turkish Americans throughout the United States, serves locally and nationwide to develop an informed and empowered Turkish American community and to support strong U.S.-Turkish relations. The ATAA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed under the laws of the District of Columbia in 1979. ATAA associated with the United Nations Department of Global Communications in July 2020. The founding principle of ATAA was the need to create cohesion and cooperation among the large numbers of social/cultural Turkish American organizations around the US. The Assembly’s main goal is to be a link between all communities, large or small, and pursue their interests in Washington and beyond. The main objectives of ATAA are two-fold. One is to create an informed national Turkish American community that can help foster US-Turkey relations and take an active part in promoting a balanced and truthful picture of Turkey in the US. The other is to educate Americans in government, the media, and the public at large about Turkey and issues that concern us as Turkish Americans. (www.ataa.org)

ATAA COMMITTEE ON U.N. RELATIONS

The Committee was formed by the Board of Directors of ATAA in November 2019 towards the starting association process with the United Nations Department of Global Communication (UNDGC). Official application towards the association was submitted to the UNDGC on March 30, 2020. It was granted and announced through the UN News Center on July 14, 2020. Instantly, and since then the Committee has been developing programs that are within the core Mission of ATAA along with those supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and/or UN Days. The Committee selected 6 UN Days for 2021. In this line, “Violence against Women Day” related webinar will be the 6h and the last of the 2021. Prior to that, the Committee also organized and presented “The Impact of the Turkish Women in the U.S.” titled webinar in support of the International Day of Women on March 7, 2021. Since July 14, 2020, the ATAA Committee on the UN Relations has undertaken and presented 9 #UNDays related webinars including this one. (www.ataa.org/u-n)

ATAA’s Head Representative to the United Nations is, President Mazlum Koşma. Chair of the Committee is Bircan Ünver; co-chair is Gökhan Özalp (past-president of ATAA); and secretaries are: Yücel Tavolara (Mid-West V.P.) and Selim Erhan (past Mid-West V.P.). Members are: Burcu Tansu (First V.P. and Western Region V.P.), Alev Wieland (Southwest Region V.P.), Levent Onalt Ph.D. (Turkish American Association of Alabama-TAAA, President). Youth members are: Alev Erhan, Saime Atakan and Ali Alp Gürer. The Committee operates underneath of the Board of Directors of ATAA.

www.ataa.org/newsletter/ataa-becomes-associate-member-of-the-un-dgc
www.un.org/press/en/2020/pi2287.doc.htm

#EndViolence #EndChildMarriage #SDG5 #25November #UNWomen #UNWomenEurope #UNWomenTR #UNWomenCentralAsia #EndFGM #EndHumanTrafficing #EndRape #A_T_A_A #ATAAUNCommittee #EverydaySexism #UrgentAction4Women #EndFGM #UNWithCivilSociety #UNDGC_CSO

Website: www.ataa.org

For further inquiries, please feel free to contact us at uncommittee@ataa.org and/or newyorkvp@ataa.org.