Yasamak - Women's Legal & Community Center

How it all started
The NGO Wothouq e.V. developed as a grouping of individuals who, over the course of several years, worked and still work at and around the European borders. Some months before the EU-Turkey-deal came into effect, these people met on Lesbos and were witnesses to the dramatic changes that took place on the Greek and Turkish sides. Therefore, an exchange developed that evolved into a cooperation with the Turkish organisation Yaşamak Sosyal Alan ve Dayanışma Derneği, who opened the gates of their community centre in 2020. 

The Project
The “Legal and Community Centre - Yasamak” (türkish “life”) is an open, supportive, safe and participatory space with a strong focus on the needs as well as on the empowerment of female refugees and locals in Izmir. Based on two pillars which are individual casework and social activities in a combination with trainings. 
The individual support is provided by three lawyers, a social worker and translators who work closely together. This way, measures can be taken quickly and unbureaucratically should the need arise. Also, developments can be followed up on more easily. 

The community activities cover several offers such as social activities, workshops, and trainings that we do in a diverse setting to strengthen the solidarity between refugees and locals. 

Turkey still takes in the highest number of refugees worldwide - 3.7 Million of which are under temporary protection from Syria and 320.000 under international protection. Adding to these numbers is a huge quantity of undocumented refugees and migrants. (https://www.unhcr.org/tr/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2022/03/UNHCR-Turkey-Factsheet-February-2022.pdf; access 02.06.2022).

Compared to the roughly 1.043.018 asylum seekers that arrived in Europe in the roughly five years between March 2016 and 2021 due to the EU-Turkey Deal (https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean; access 02.06.2022), over 4 million asylum seekers and temporarily protected individuals reached Turkey between 2016 and 2018, that is almost four times as much people in less than half the time. The deal turned Turkey into a transit country on the route to Europe and into the main host country of one of the largest groups of refugees worldwide. 

Adding to these legal and structural difficulties, women, in most societies, are especially marginalised and discriminated against while their everyday lives are especially difficult and shaped by huge challenges. Due to this situation, social and legal support structures are necessary for all these groups to start building new lives.

Contact
info@wothouq.org 
https://www.wothouq.org/