As the Youth Organizations Forum (GoFor), we have prepared a report to contribute to the thematic report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, to be presented to the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. The submission documents the systematic repression, rights violations, and collective strategies of resistance experienced by youth organizations in Türkiye throughout 2025.
The report frames violations of young people’s right to collective action not as isolated or technical incidents, but as part of a multi-layered crisis intertwined with political representation, freedom of expression, the right to housing, and digital rights. It reflects a period in which young people’s right to act as political agents is deliberately targeted, and in which their organized structures are dismantled through financial, legal, and physical means.
19 March protests, KYK repression, digital restrictions
The report identifies the youth-led protests that emerged after the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu as a significant turning point. The suppression of these protests revealed the scope of interventions aimed at undermining youth political agency and collective mobilization, including:
- Young people detained during protests, with access to legal assistance obstructed
- Students in public dormitories (KYK) subjected to disciplinary proceedings.
- Young women and LGBTI+ students subjected to strip searches and ill-treatment in detention
- Social media posts by youth organizations censored or restricted, including content on protest safety, legal support, and public statements
- University students participating in protests facing disciplinary sanctions, with student clubs targeted and suspended
What are youth organizations demanding?
The report not only documents violations but also highlights the alternatives and policy proposals advanced by youth organizations. Key demands addressed to the Government of Türkiye, international donors, and UN mechanisms include:
- Withdrawal of draft laws that restrict the right to peaceful protest
- Restoration of democratic rectoral elections in universities
- Equal access for youth organizations to public funding and resources
- An end to digital censorship and arbitrary online content restrictions
- Protection of young people’s housing, education, and scholarship rights from reprisals for exercising their right to protest
Youth solidarity in the face of repression
The report also documents the creative forms of solidarity developed by young people despite an increasingly repressive environment. Silent protests, encrypted digital communication networks, voluntary legal support mechanisms, and women’s and LGBTI+ solidarity practices are among the ways in which youth continue to expand spaces for collective struggle.
This report is not only a record of human rights violations but also an international testimony to young people’s political will, organized presence, and vision for a democratic future.
