Etkiniz is a European Union programme dedicated to supporting civil society organisations (CSOs) involved in human rights monitoring and advocacy in Türkiye.
Financed under the Civil Society Facility (CSF 2019)—the EU’s primary instrument for strengthening civil society in candidate countries—ETKİNİZ launched its third phase in January 2026.
The overarching goal of the ETKİNİZ EU Programme is to strengthen the role of CSOs in promoting and protecting human rights at various levels by expanding their monitoring and advocacy capacities.
Our Core Objectives:
- Strengthening the sustainability of human rights monitoring activities.
- Enhancing the quality and quantity of human rights monitoring reports.
- Developing essential expertise, methodology, and technical skills for effective monitoring.
- Increasing access to and impact within European and international human rights frameworks and mechanisms.
- Fostering dialogue opportunities to improve the overall human rights monitoring environment.
- Raising public awareness regarding the monitoring value and pivotal role of CSOs in protecting human rights.
ETKİNİZ provides expert support to CSOs to help them document human rights conditions in Türkiye, facilitate multi-stakeholder analysis, and launch advocacy campaigns calling for better alignment with international human rights standards. Since its inception in 2019, the programme (officially titled “ETKİNİZ EU Programme for Monitoring Human Rights in Türkiye”) has contributed to a significant increase in the number of organisations conducting systematic human rights monitoring.
How does ETKİNİZ define human rights monitoring?
Human rights monitoring comprises three elements:
(1) gathering and documenting human rights information;
(2) verifying it; and
(3) using it for advocacy to improve the human rights situation.
It is a process, not a one-time activity. Monitoring assesses the extent to which existing laws and practices comply with international human rights standards. Advocacy efforts, training sessions, or meetings that do not incorporate systematic monitoring do not fall within the scope of HRM eligible for this facility.