Lecture by Prof. Dr. Feride Acar, Professor Emerita in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey
Prof. Acar shares her experiences and reflections concerning the drafting–adoption processes as well as monitoring the implementation of the Istanbul Convention and General Recommendation 35 of CEDAW, as two landmark international developments of the last decade to combat gender-based violence against women.Prof. Feride Acar’s research has been in the areas of gender equality and women’s human rights, including on the topics of women in education and academia; women in social and political movements; women’s rights and international standards. She has also published works on Turkish political life. As an independent expert in this area, she has held various high-level positions in the UN and Council of Europe.She has taken part in the negotiations and drafting of several fundamental international instruments on women's rights and gender equality, including the Beijing Platform for Action (1995), the CEDAW Optional Protocol (1999-2001), and the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention (2006-2011).Upon the coming into force of the Istanbul Convention in 2015, Prof. Acar was elected to its monitoring organ, GREVIO and acted as its President until 2019. Prof. Acar has also served as a member (1997-2005;2011-2019) and Chairperson (2003-2005) of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW). Prof. Acar has initiated the establishment(1994) of the Gender and Women's Studies Graduate Program at METU and served as its Founding Chairperson between 1994–2004.In 2018, she was awarded the Human Rights Award by the Canadian Government and in May 2019, the Council of Europe’s Pro Merito Medal for her contributions in the area of gender equality and women’s human right.